Kerala’s First IS Recruitment Case : Yasmeen Gets 7 Yrs Rigorous Imprisonment
Kochi : NIA Special court today sentenced woman operative Yasmeen Mohammed Zahid to seven years rigorous imprisonment in connection with Kerala’s first IS recruitment case.
The case initially related to 15 youth missing from Kasaragod, who were suspected to left for Afghanistan to join IS.
Yasmeen, arrested in July 2016 from Delhi airport en route Kabul after police intercepted her text messages to fugitive IS Recruiter Abdul Rashid.
Her confessions of 19 persons from Kerala and Karnataka attending “jihadi classes” prompted police to look deeper who later handed over the case to National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Yasmeen is born and raised in Saudi Arabia where her parents live. She married a Malayali native and came down to Kerala in 2015 and worked as teacher in Peace International School in Malapuram.
She met Rashid at school who befriended the family. Yasmeen soon separated from her husband after getting close to Rashid, whose ultra-radical teachings fascinated her.
Rashid held IS teachings under cover of Quran classes and used online propaganda to radicalize youth. He later went on to Afghanistan to become a lynchpin of IS recruitment drive.
