Briton identified as masked IS video killer
Print Edition
The masked militant in an Islamic State video showing the killing of five men accused by the group of being Western spies is believed to be a Londoner known as Sid who once sold inflatable bouncy castles.
Siddhartha Dhar, who left Britain for Syria while on police bail after his arrest on suspicion of belonging to a banned group and encouraging terrorism, has been identified by media as the spokesman in the militant organization’s latest film.
The video also features a young boy wearing a black bandanna around his head and army-style camouflage clothing, threatening in English to “kill the kaffir (unbelievers) over there.”
Sunday Dare, a Londoner of Nigerian origin, identified the child as his 4-year-old grandson Isa. Dare told British media his daughter, who grew up a devout Christian named Grace before converting to Islam and changing her name to Khadijah, had taken London-born Isa to Syria with her to join Islamic State.
The video revived memories of “Jihadi John,” another British IS member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were murdered before he himself was believed to have been killed in an airstrike last year.
Dhar, who is also known as Abu Rumaysah, is one of Britain’s most high-profile Islamists and an associate of Anjem Choudary, Britain’s best-known Islamist preacher who is due to go on trial next week accused of terrorism offenses.
A convert from Hinduism who lived in east London, Dhar regularly attended protests staged by the now banned al-Muhajiroun organization and had often spoken to the media in support of radical Islamic causes. Since leaving Britain he gained further attention through online videos in which he exhorted life under IS.
Khadijah Dare is also a keen propagandist for the group who has posted images of herself and her toddler son pointing rifles on social media.
Reported to have been radicalized online, Dare left London for Syria in 2012 with Isa, then a baby. Having made her way to territory controlled by Islamic State, she married a jihadi of Swedish origin known as Abu Bakr, now thought to be dead.
The couple appeared together in footage filmed in Syria in 2013, joking about which of them had the best AK47.
A trail of videos also offers some insight into Dhar’s world view. In one posted on his YouTube website, titled “The beauty of the Shariah and the Caliphate”, he said: “I’ve grown up in the West, I’ve lived in the UK all my life, I’ve seen what a democracy has to offer and quite frankly it’s quite oppressive.”
His sister Konika told media the man in the video sounded just like her brother, echoing the views of others who knew him well. However, neither she nor security experts said they could be certain it was him.
In the 10-minute video released on Sunday, the masked man speaking with a clear British accent threatens British Prime Minister David Cameron before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head.
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