It was during the free time after her marriage that Afsha Jabeen, arrested on the charge of recruiting persons for the Islamic State, developed interest in religion-related discussions.
After giving birth to her first child while living in Abu Dhabi, the housewife used to have lots of free time, police officers probing the case of Ms. Afsha said.
With her husband Mohammed Mustafa being away at his work place, she used to browse the Internet during the free time and extensively studied discussions posted by Islamic scholars.
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Eventually, she got attracted to religious issues and came in contact with Salman Mohiuddin. “They exchanged ideas and were sympathetic to the issues of IS. All this while, Ms. Afsha had been interacting with people online with the fictitious name of Nicky Joseph.
They again came in contact in 2013 and further discussed the ongoing IS activities. They decided to join IS. “Ms. Afsha asked Mohiuddin to come to Dubai where he can join her and both can go to Syria to fight one behalf of IS,” investigators said.
After declaration of Caliphate in June 2014, and following indiscriminate killings by IS militants, Mohiuddin and Ms. Afsha were in a dilemma as the consequences were not to their liking.
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“Ms. Afsha’s husband Mohammed Mustafa was not aware of her online interactions. In fact, Mr. Mustafa was a Hindu but had converted to Islam after marrying her,” a police officer explained. Mr. Mustafa alias Devender hailed from Hyderabad. Mr Devender went to Abu Dhabi for business.
He, along with three other youngsters, rented a portion in the house of Ms. Afsha’s father there. That time, Ms. Afsha’s elder sister got married while the younger one came to India to pursue engineering course. Devender and Afsha fell in love. They decided to get married and returned to India. Their marriage was performed at Arya Samaj here. While going back to Abu Dhabi, Devender converted to Islam and changed his name. He secured a new passport with the changed name and went to Abu Dhabi.
Ms. Afsha’s husband, who was Hindu, but converted to Islam after marriage, was not aware of her online interactions