Washington/London: The US has designated Indian-origin Islamic State militant from Britain Siddhartha Dhar as a global terrorist who is believed to have replaced the dreaded group’s executioner Mohammad Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”.
Dhar, a British Hindu who converted to Islam and now goes by the name Abu Rumaysah, had jumped police bail in the UK and had gone to Syria with his wife and young children in 2014. He is believed to be the masked leader who appeared in a January 2016 ISIS video on the execution of several prisoners ISIS accused of spying for the UK, the US state department said.
Dubbed as “Jihadi Sid”, the 33-year-old, who worked as a bouncy castle salesman in the UK, has since been filmed executing prisoners and appeared in ISIS propaganda videos.
Emwazi, who was dubbed as ‘Jihadi John’, was killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in 2015.
A Belgian-Moroccan citizen, Abdelatif Gaini, was also designated as a global terrorist along with Dhar by the US.
The US has designated two ISIS members Dhar and Gaini, as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” and imposes sanctions on them for posing a significant risk of terrorist acts that threaten the security of US nationals or national security, a state department spokesperson said Tuesday in a statement.
Nihad Barakat, a Yazidi teenager held as a sex slave by ISIS, was quoted as saying by the Independent in May 2016 that she was kidnapped and trafficked by Dhar, who was based in Mosul, the group’s former stronghold in Iraq.
Dhar was dubbed as the ‘New Jihadi John’ and became a senior commander of ISIS, the report had said.
The latest state department designations will deny Dhar and Gaini the resources they need to plan and carry out terrorist attacks, the spokesperson said. All of Dhar’s and Gaini’s property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US citizens are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them, the statement said.
Dhar was a leading member of the now-defunct terrorist organisation Al-Muhajiroun.
Gaini, believed to be fighting for ISIS in the Middle East, is connected to UK-based ISIS sympathisers Mohamad Ali Ahmed and Humza Ali, who were convicted in the UK in 2016 of terrorism offenses, the statement said.
The action notifies the US public and the international community that Dhar and Gaini have committed or pose a significant risk of committing terrorist acts, it said.
PTI
