Two women from Kannur arrested by NIA for spreading Islamic State ideologies

Two women from Kannur district in Kerala, suspected of spreading ISIS ideologies through social media, have been arrested by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) on Tuesday. (August 17)

The two women reportedly belonged to a seven-member group propagating ISIS ideology through a social media platform called Chronicle Foundation, said media reports.

Shifa Harris and Mizha Sideeque, who were picked up by NIA, had links with Mushab Anuvar, who was nabbed by NIA in March 2021. The two women were arrested from their homes after the NIA landed up at their doorstep at 6 am. They were produced in front of the court through the online mode.

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According to the News Minute report, this arrest was linked to the alleged terrorist activities of a group led by Mohammed Ameen of Kerala, who was arrested earlier by NIA, along with his associates Mushab Anuvar and Rahees Rashid.

The group had been allegedly running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram and promoting the violent Jihadi ideology of the ISIS. They were trying to radicalise and recruit new members, said a NIA release.

The NIA release further said that Mizha had travelled to Teheran along with her associates to join ISIS in Syria. She was instructed by Ameen to create a page on Instagram to motivate, radicalise and recruit guillible Muslim youth to the ISIS.

Shifa Harris alias Ayesha too was affiliated to the ISIS and had transferred funds to Mohammed Waqar Lone for supporting ISIS activities. The NIA is further investigating the case.

Earlier this month, the NIA had also carried out searches at five locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka in connection with this case, said media reports.

Meanwhile, an India Today report said that the Thiruvananthapuram-based K Bindu, the mother of Nimisha Fathima, has urged the Indian government to bring back her daughter and four-year-old grandchild from Afghanistan.

Nimisha along with three other women had left Kerala allegedly to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group a few years ago. All four women had surrendered and were then imprisoned in Afghanistan in 2019.

After the Taliban’s takeover, it is not clear if the four women from Kerala were freed in the Taliban jailbreak and are now standed in Kabul.