UK paid £1m compensation to suspected suicide bomber
A SUSPECTED British Islamic State suicide bomber was paid £1 million compensation after being held in Guantanamo Bay to avoid disclosing security services files, a former anti-terror chief said today.
Lord Carlile, the ex-independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said there was “no merit in paying a penny” to Jamal al Harith, also known as Jamal Udeen. However, an “anomaly” in Brit ain’s legal system led to the payment.
The suspected bomber, named by IS as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, is said to have detonated an explosives-filled vehicle in a village south of Mosul in Iraq. He was born Ronald Fiddler, before turning to Islam in the Nineties.
The former website designer, a fatherof-three of Jamaican origin, travelled to the Pakistani city of Quetta in 2001 for what he claimed was a religious holiday. He said he tried to enter Iran when the US invaded neighbouring Afghanistan, but was captured and imprisoned by the Taliban on suspicion of being a UK spy.
He was suspected of terrorism by the Americans but freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2004 after lobbying by the British government.
On his return, his solicitor said he was treated in a “cruel, inhumane and degrading manner” and would be seeking answers “for the injustice which he has suffered”. He reportedly alleged torture and received £1 million in compensation from the government after his release, along with four other Britons.
Lord Carlile told BBC radio: “My belief is the settlement was paid to avoid disclosure being in court of the activities and files of the security services.
“The Government was quite right not to want to disclose those files but plainly there is an anomaly between the United Kingdom, where the threat of disclosure of such files led to the payment of compensation, and the United States, where this man brought a legal action which failed.
“There was absolutely no merit in paying him a penny because plainly he was a terrorist and he was a potentially dangerous terrorist.”
@nicholascecil