UK bouncy castle seller is Isil’s new ‘Jihadi John’
America puts British extremist on global terror list after identifying him as group’s executioner in Syria
US OFFICIALS have put a British jihadist on a global terrorist list, and identified him as the replacement for “Jihadi John” as the Islamic State group’s executioner.
Siddhartha Dhar was yesterday designated a global terrorist by the US State Department alongside Abdelatif Gaini, a Belgian-morrocan also fighting for the militants in the Middle East.
Dhar, a former bouncy castle salesman also known as Abu Rumasayah, was able to escape the authorities and take his family to Syria despite being on bail for terrorism offences.
After arriving in the self-declared caliphate of Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (Isil), he is then believed to have appeared as a masked figure presenting a propaganda video which he said showed “British spies” being executed.
In the gruesome ten-minute clip, the men, who are wearing orange jumpsuits, each confess to passing on information about Isil, also known as Isis or Daesh, and its operatives.
The US government said that the declaration of Dhar and Gaini as specially designated global terrorists was intended to deny them “the resources they need to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks”.
A statement said that Dhar, who has been nicknamed “Jihadi Sid”, was a leading member of the now-defunct terrorist organisation Al-muhajiroun, alongside Anjem Choudary.
“He is considered to have replaced Mohammad Emwazi, the Isis executioner also known as Jihadi John,” it said. “Dhar is believed to be the masked leader who appeared in a January 2016 Isis video of the execution of several prisoners who Isis accused of spying for the UK.”
American officials said the designation “notifies the US public and the international community that Dhar and Gaini have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism … designations expose and isolate organisations and individuals, and deny them access to the US financial system.”
Dhar was arrested in Britain in September 2014 alongside Choudary on suspicion of belonging to the banned group Al-muhajiroun.
However, to the embarrassment of the authorities, just hours after being granted police bail, Dhar caught a bus to Paris with his family and then travelled on to Syria where he joined Isil.
He taunted British authorities by boasting of his new life in the caliphate and posted pictures on Twitter of him holding an AK-47 assault rifle with one arm and his baby son with the other.
Dhar was raised a Hindu, but converted to Islam to marry Aisha, his Muslim wife.
Former neighbours in Walthamstow, east London, have claimed Dhar’s wife was more devout than him and suggested that she may have put him on the path to extremism.
In the months leading up to his arrest, Dhar was accused of burning poppies and calling for the imposition of Islamic law in Britain.
He was a key member of al-muhajiroun and offshoot groups such as the Shariah Project, masterminding “roadshows” in London that aimed to recruit troubled youngsters to Islam.
Choudary was later jailed for five years and six months at the Old Bailey.