‘Need to expand caliphate’ for Indian Muslims, Hyderabad woman ISIS recruiter says

HYDERABAD: Alleged ISIS recruiter Afsha Jabeen has reportedly confessed that she along with Salman Mohiuddin used to propagate Islam on her Facebook group and tried to lure innocent Indian Muslim youth to join the Islamic State (ISIS) to wage jihad.

In her confession, Afsha Jabeen alias Nicky Josepha, 38, a commerce graduate of Shadan College in Tolichowki, told police that she first met Salman in 2010 via Facebook. "In an online post, I wrote Ali without a suffix RZ and Salman corrected me. I got introduced to Salman's YouTube channel and started liking him. I shared my social media IDs with him and we regularly used to share our views on various issues related to Islamic State," Afsha confessed to the RGI Airport police.

In 2010, Afsha created FB group "Islam vs Christianity Friendly Discussion" for propagating Islam and to clarify doubts of Christians about her religion. To manage the account, Afsha said that she assumed the pseudonym, Nicky Joseph, and requested Salman to be the admin. Salman accepted the request. Since then, the two were in regular touch till police arrested Salman at the RGIA in January 2015 while he was about to board a flight to meet her with a strong motive to join the ISIS.

READ ALSO: ISIS sympathizer's arrest failed to deter Afsha

"The FB group became very popular with over 50,000 followers, but in 2014 it was blocked for posting ISIS-related content. But, immediately, I started another group with the same name," Afsha said.

Salman also used to operate four FB groups — "Daula News Room", "Moderators Vs Liberals", "Daula Islamia" and "Revelations and Hadith". Salman made Afsha admin of all these groups, police said. Afsha, daughter of Abdus Salam and Rafath Salam, told the police that her family belongs to Sunni/Hanfi sect. Abdus used to run Dreamland Stationary & Printing Press in Abu Dhabi. After finishing her graduation from Shadan College in 1999, Afsha married Devendra Kumar Batra alias Mohammed Mustafa, a Dubai-based realtor from Himayatnagar in August 2002.

She became a fan of Islamic scholars Zakir Nayak and Bilal Philips after watching their speeches during her free time.

READ ALSO: First Indian woman 'operative of ISIS' deported from Dubai

"I am a strong supporter of ISIS and impressed by their activities as they effectively stopped Syrian ruler Asad from committing atrocities against Sunni Muslims and wanted to establish sharia law," Afsha reportedly said in her confession. Afsha told police that after Salman's arrest, she got scared and deleted her online identities.

"While chatting on FB groups, I used to motivate gullible youth from India through videos of ISIS activities. I used to post in my group saying that Indian Muslims are being ruled by non-believers and there is a need to spread the geographical area of ISIS caliphate with Muslim youth supporters," Afsha confessed.

On Monday, the Shamshabad police moved a petition before a Rajendranagar court asking for 15-day custody of Afsha. The petition has been posted to Tuesday for arguments.