Rabiah Hutchinson

Last updated

Rabiah [1] Hutchinson (born Robyn Mary Hutchinson in August 1953) is an Australian Muslim sometimes described as the "matriarch" of radical Salafi jihadist Islam in Australia. [2] Hutchinson, a one time Presbyterian country girl "turned marijuana-smoking beach bunny and hippy backpacker" turned Islamic extremist [3] has married at least eight times as of 2006, primarily to members of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah, and has been the subject of an investigation by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). Hutchinson traveled to the Mujahideen camps in Afghanistan and into Osama bin Laden's inner circle and is believed to have been schooled there by the Mujaheddin. [4] [5] She is the mother-in-law of al-Qaeda's current leader, Saif al-Adel; he married her daughter Asma, from her third marriage to Egyptian journalist Abu Walid al-Masri.

Contents

Early life

Hutchinson is of Scottish ancestry [6] was born in August 1953 in Mudgee to a Sydney Presbyterian family; she later became a Baptist and then converted to Catholicism, eventually, Hutchinson converted to Sunni Islam. [4] [5]

Involvement in Afghan Arab affairs

Hutchinson was linked with radical Indonesian clerics in the 1980s. [7] She worked as a doctor for members of the mujahideen on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the 1990s. [7] [8] [3] [9] In Pakistan, she initially settled in the town of Pabbi, where a growing number of Afghan refugees affected by the war and foreign volunteers were pouring in. [10] The only other Australian she knew in Pabbi was her friend Aisha, an Aboriginal convert whose husband had organised Rabiah's arrival in Pakistan, and who would bring Rabiah a jar of Vegemite when visiting. [10] While living in Kabul, Afghanistan, Hutchinson met her third husband, Egyptian Mustafa Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri). In Kabul, Hutchinson was regarded for her medical knowledge. [6]

ASIO investigation

ASIO's assessment states that Ms. Hutchinson "has directly supported extremist activities" and, if allowed to travel, is "likely to engage in conduct that might prejudice the security of Australia or a foreign country". [5]

Rabiah Hutchinson and her daughter Rahmah Wisudo were placed on a "no-fly list" due to alleged links to radical Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who had ties to an offshoot of the al-Qaeda terrorist group . [11]

Rabiah maintains she was labeled as an al-Qaeda operative because the authorities wanted "someone to blame". [3]

In the media

Jihad Sheilas

Rabiah Hutchinson was one of the women featured in a documentary Jihad Sheilas aired on ABC television. [12] [13]

Family

As of December 2006, Hutchinson had been married eight times. [4] She has been married to both Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abu Walid al-Masri. [7] Two of her sons were arrested in Yemen, and were alleged to be linked to Jack Roche. [14] Her daughter is married to Khaled Cheikho. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. Its membership is mostly composed of Arabs, but also includes people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, the UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Hamza al-Masri</span> Egyptian-born British Islamist terrorist incarcerated in a US federal prison

Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri, or simply Abu Hamza, is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London, where he preached Islamic fundamentalist views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saif al-Adel</span> Current de-facto Emir of Al-Qaeda

Mohamed Salah al-Din al-Halim Zaidan, commonly known by his nom de guerreSaif al-Adel, is a former Egyptian Army officer and explosives expert who is widely understood to be the de facto leader of al-Qaeda. Al-Adel fought the Soviets as an Afghan Arab before becoming a founding member of the al-Qaeda organization. He is a member of Al-Qaeda's Majlis al-Shura and has headed the organization's military committee since the death of Muhammad Atef in 2001. He is currently known to live in Iran along with several other senior members of the group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Ayyub al-Masri</span> Egyptian al-Qaeda member (1967–2010)

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, born Abdel Moneim Ezz El-Din Ali Al-Badawi, was an Egyptian militant leader who was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the Iraqi insurgency, following the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June 2006. He was war minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2006 to 2010 and prime minister of the Islamic State of Iraq from 2009 to 2010. He was killed during a raid on his safehouse on 18 April 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Omar al-Baghdadi</span> First leader of the Islamic State of Iraq

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, born Hamid Dawud Mohamed Khalil al-Zawi was an Iraqi militant who was the Emir of the Islamic militant umbrella organization Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC), and its successor, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which fought against the U.S.-led Coalition forces during the Iraqi insurgency.

Willie Virgile Brigitte is a convicted criminal, who was deported from Australia in 2003 for breaching the terms of his tourist visa and, upon arrival in France, was charged and convicted in Paris in 2007 for associating with criminals in relation to a terrorist enterprise, including a plot to damage the Lucas Heights High Flux Australian Reactor and the Holsworthy Barracks, both located in Sydney, Australia. Brigitte served a custodial sentence of nine years in a French correctional facility, was released in 2009, but then rearrested in 2012.

Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, better known as Saeed al-Masri or simply al-Masri, was an Egyptian who was alleged to have acted as the financial chief for al-Qaeda. Along with Mahfouz Ould al-Walid and Saif al-Adel, al-Masri was believed to have opposed the September 11 attacks two months prior to their execution. He was killed in a targeted killing drone airstrike in Pakistan on May 21, 2010.

Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim alias Abu Jihad al-Masri was an Islamic terrorist. US authorities purported al-Hakim to operate in Iran as the head of media and propaganda for al-Qaeda, and "may also [have been] the Chief of External Operations for al Qaeda". The name Abu Jihad is an informal or assumed name meaning roughly "father of the struggle", and al-Masri simply means the Egyptian. He was killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan on October 31, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu al-Walid</span> Islamist terrorist

Abu al-Walid was a Saudi Arabian of the Ghamd tribe who fought as a "mujahid" volunteer in Central Asia, the Balkans, and the North Caucasus. He was killed in April 2004 in Chechnya by the Russian federal forces.

Abu Ubaidah al-Masri was an al-Qaeda operative in Pakistan. Al-Masri was implicated in the 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, which was to be carried out by a terrorist cell operating in London, but which was orchestrated by al-Qaeda's central leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamza bin Laden</span> Al-Qaeda member, son of Osama bin Laden

Hamza bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, better known as Hamza bin Laden, was a Saudi Arabian-born member of al-Qaeda. He was a son of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and, following his father's death in 2011, he was described as an emerging leader of the al-Qaeda organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Yahya al-Libi</span> Member of al-Qaeda

Abu Yahya al-Libi, born Mohamed Hassan Qaid, was a terrorist and leading high-ranking official within al-Qaeda, and an alleged member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani, is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with al-Qaeda. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War, he served on al-Qaeda's Shura Council and ran a religious school called the Institute of Islamic Studies in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from the late 1990s until the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Mujahideen, or Mujahidin, is the plural form of mujahid, an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in jihad, interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the community (ummah).

L'Houssaine Kherchtou was an early initiate in al-Qaeda, joining the militant group in 1991. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder, but as he was the chief witness against four of his former colleagues, all of whom were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, his charges were withdrawn and he entered the witness protection program.

Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri and Hashim al-Makki, is a journalist who in the 1980s fought as an Islamic jihad volunteer during the Soviet–Afghan War. He is reported to have been an al-Qaeda advisor and taught at the Al Farouq training camp in the 1990s. He served as a bureau chief in Afghanistan for Al Jazeera from 1998 to 2001, before leaving for Iran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem</span>

The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council was an armed Palestinian Salafi jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda that is active in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. The group was formed in 2011 or 2012 by Salafist Islamist Hisham Al-Saedni to coordinate the activities of the Salafi jihadist groups operating in Gaza even before the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and has carried out attacks against civilians in Israel. The group describes violence against Jews as a religious obligation that brings its perpetrators closer to God. Al-Saedni, who was the leader of the group and also of Jahafil Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad fi Filastin, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on 14 October 2012. The group is subordinated with Al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula as of August 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Atef</span> Egyptian al-Qaeda member (1944–2001)

Mohammed Atef was an Egyptian militant and prominent military chief of al-Qaeda, and a deputy of Osama bin Laden, although Atef's role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years. He was killed in a US airstrike in November 2001.

The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, or Abu Hafs al-Masri Battalions, was a group which claims to be a branch of the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Al-Qaeda.

Abdullah Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Rajab Abd al-Rahman, known as Ahmad Hasan Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, was an Egyptian al-Qaeda leader who has been described as the general deputy to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

References

  1. ↑ Sometimes spelled "Rabiyah."
  2. ↑ "Six women in danger dossier." smh.com.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Al-Qaeda's surf chick". BBC News. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Rabiyah and daughter married terror twins." theaustralian.com.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Muslim matriarch Rabiah Hutchinson's suburban nightmare." theaustralian.com.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.[ dead link ]
  6. 1 2 Michelle Shephard. Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 Mia Bloom (2011). Bombshell: The Many Faces of Women Terrorists. Hurst & Company, London. p. 192.
  8. ↑ "Rabiah Hutchinson: The Mother of Mohammed". ABC. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "A singular life". The Economist. 18 June 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2020. Eventually, Ms Hutchinson moved to Pakistan, where she seems to have found happiness living a spartan existence...
  10. 1 2 Neighbour, Sally (6 November 2009). "Journey to the Jihad". The Australian. Retrieved 24 June 2020. Her destination was Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, which was the main base for the mujahidin fighting to oust the Soviet-installed government in neighbouring Afghanistan... Alt URL
  11. ↑ "Australians placed on US terror no-fly list." dailytelegraph.com.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Muslim convert slurs Bali victims." smh.com.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  13. ↑ "'Jihad Sheilas' speak out." abc.net.au. Accessed February 6, 2015.
  14. 1 2 Mia Bloom (2011). Bombshell: The Many Faces of Women Terrorists. Hurst & Company, London. p. 193.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.