Rahaf Zina | |
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Born | 1990 (age 26–27) |
Nationality | Syria |
Known for | Said to be the widow of a senior Daesh commander |
Rahaf Zina is a citizen of Syria, suspected of an association with Daesh. She was arrested, on March 25, 2017, with a Kuwaiti man named Hussein al-Dhufairi. Al-Dhufairi was described as a bomb-maker, and brother of a senior Daesh leader, Abdul Mohsin Al-Dhufairi.
Some press reports said Zina was married to Hussain Al-Dhufairi. Others said she was the widow of Abdul Mohsin Al-Dhufairi. CNN reported the couple described themselves as married, to Philippine immigration officials, when they arrived in the Philippines, on January 25, 2017. The Kuwait Times reported that Zina married her brother-in-law Hussain, after her first husband's death.
Zina was four or five months pregnant, when captured.
Both Zina and Al-Dhufairi are reported to have arrived in the Philippines, on January 28, 2017, using their own passports, with valid travel visas. Some press reports asserted that Zina and al-Dhufairi both had work visas, and both held down legal jobs. Other press reports asserted that while al-Dhufairi had a valid work visa, Zina had arrived on a tourist visa.
Press reports asserted Zina would not be deported to Syria, because of the civil war there. There were no grounds to extradite her to Kuwait, a country she had never visited. There was speculation she would be deported to Qatar, the country she had visited immediately prior to traveling to the Philippines.
The pair were captured at their home, a condominium in a suburb of Manila, on March 25, 2017. Philippine authorities did not immediately make their capture public knowledge. Reporters were allowed to take pictures, when Philippine authorities produced the pair at the press conference when their capture was announced, on April 7, 2017. Philippine government officials claimed their capture foiled a threat to Philippine public safety. But, by April 17, 2017, when al-Dhufairi was deported back to Kuwait, to face charges there, they had concluded the pair had not made contact with any individuals connected with homegrown Philippine Muslim insurgent groups.