THE British fugitive identified yesterday as the new Jihadi John skipped
bail to join ISIS.
The former Arsenal-loving Nirvana fan known to his mates as Sid was collared
for being part of the banned organisation Al-Muhajiroun.
Siddartha Dhar failed to surrender his passport and hopped on a coach from
London to Paris before travelling to Syria with his pregnant wife and four
kids.
Dhar, who now uses the Islamic name Abu Rumaysah, was arrested in 2014 on
terrorism charges.
The 32-year-old became increasingly fanatical following his conversion to
Islam from Hinduism — joining the radical group outlawed because of links to
terrorism.
Shocked Konika, 28, said: “If it is him, bloody hell am I shocked? I am going
to kill him myself. He is going to come back and I am going to kill him if
he has done this.
“I think it’s best I don’t say anything more until I am 100 per cent sure that
it is him.”
It is feared British-born former bouncy castle salesman Dhar has taken over
the role of chief killer on the sick IS videos from the original Jihadi
John, Mohammed Emwazi.
Emwazi, a British citizen who was filmed beheading a number of hostages in the
desert, was killed in a drone strike in November.
Although security experts believe the voice in the murder video matches Dhar’s
there is still a debate about whether the face is a match. IS has used
dubbed voices before.
However, an Islamic preacher who knows Dhar said the killer’s voice was
definitely similar. He added: “It is a propaganda video and they have tried
to hide the identity.
“It is a personal observation but it could be him, his voice is similar.”
Documentary maker Mojtaba Ali, who interviewed Dhar a month before he fled,
said: “Me and the cameraman were discussing it as soon as we saw the video.
“This person speaks very similar to the man we filmed for our documentary and
his eyes, and also his zeal to be on TV was similar.
“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t him.”
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‘British’ Jihadi John and Jihadi Jnr in sick new ISIS video
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this man’s voice the same as speaker in ‘New Jihadi John’ ISIS video?
Terror experts also confirmed Dahr’s voice matched that of the new Jihadi
John. Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at
Royal United Services, said the voice in the video matched recordings made
of Dhar when he was with banned Islamic group Al-Muhajirou.
He said: “From watching him in Al-Muhajiroun videos and this new video he
sounds very similar.
“The masked man sounds like he is from London. Jihadi John was a bit of a
rudeboy from West London and was a bit laddish. This guy doesn’t sound as
‘street’ as Jihadi John.” Konika, from North London, has previously told how
her brother was transformed from a typical teenager into an extremist who
named his second child Usama after Osama Bin Laden. She said as a lad “Sid”
was a normal young Londoner who gelled his hair, supported Arsenal and
listened to rockers Nirvana and Linkin Park.
He dated girls and loved American action movies and liked to drink Baileys at
Christmas and the Hindu festival of Diwali.
But following the death of his father when he was 16, Dhar changed. He dropped
plans to go to university to become a dentist and instead worked in Boots,
before taking a job renting out bouncy castles to children’s parties.
Dhar then converted to Islam. He stopped listening to music and watching TV
and began sleeping on the floor to try to be like the prophet Mohammed.
He was soon following the teachings of al-Qaeda preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed
at Finsbury Park Mosque. At 23 he married a Pakistani-British woman named
Aisha and they moved to Walthamstow.
Their first child, a daughter called Rumaysah, was born in 2008. It was then
he took the name Abu Rumaysah, which means “father of Rumaysah”. Their
second child, Usama, was born in 2009.
As Dhar became drawn further into fundamentalist Islam he joined
Al-Muhajiroun.
He also became an outspoken member of Muslims Against Crusaders, alongside
known radicals such as Sayful Islam, Abu Izzadeen and Abdul Haq. Islam has
said America only had itself to blame over 9/11 and was jailed for ten
months for violent disorder.
Izzadeen was jailed for four and a half years for supporting terrorism.
Haq was at the centre of an East London protest in which Muslim shopkeepers
were told not to sell alcohol.
Dhar skipped bail in September 2014 after his arrest for being in
Al-Muhajiroun.
He got a coach from London to Paris and then travelled to Syria.
After Dhar fled, Konika said in a newspaper interview: “I think he has
actually forgotten Siddartha Dhar and become this other person. We were just
a normal family. Then my dad died. One incident had an impact on everything
else.”
Dhar later taunted the UK authorities from Syria.
He boasted he had “breezed” past border controls and posted a snap of himself
holding an AK-47 assault rifle while cradling his fifth child, born after
his arrival in IS territory.
Dhar was arrested six times in total for extremism-related offences — but was
repeatedly interviewed by the BBC and Channel 4.
In May Dhar wrote a Lonely Planet-style guide to the IS in an effort to
encourage other British Muslims to join the terror group. He said: “If you
thought London or New York was cosmopolitan then wait until you step foot in
the Islamic State, because it screams diversity.”
Dhar also raved about the food and drink, saying: “Snickers, KitKat, Twix,
Kinder Surprise, Cadbury – yes, yes we have it all.
“If you were worried about leaving behind your local Costa coffee then you
will be happy to know that the Caliphate serves some of the best lattes and
cappuccinos around.”
It is understood the security services have been working around the clock
since the video emerged on Sunday to identify the killer.
An RAF Rivet Joint spy plane, also named Airseeker, has flown countless
missions over Iraq and Syria listening to phone and radio conversations. Any
voice interceptions of British-sounding fighters are immediately passed to
the Air Warfare Centre at RAF Waddington, Lincs. The tapes are then passed
to GCHQ.
Following months of sorties it is believed they have built a bank of
recordings which are now being compared to the IS video.
A source said: “Voice intercepts are key. Everyone’s voice is unique, just
like a fingerprint.
“Intonation, tone, speed of speech, can all help identify an individual.
“The RAF do not analyse the intercepts, they capture them and pass them to the
experts.
“Dahr is among a number of candidates they are looking into as they seek to
identify who this character is.”
Trio of terror
Siddartha Dhar, left
DHAR converted to Islam at 16 after the death of his father. As Abu Rumaysah,
he fled the UK while on bail for terror offences to join IS in Syria.
Sayful Islam, centre
JAILED for ten months in 2014 over a sectarian fight in London, the
Luton-based extremist blamed 9/11 on the US government and called them
“terrorists”.
Abu Izzadeen, right
BORN Trevor Brooks, the former electrician was jailed for 4½ years in 2008 for
supporting terrorism. He was arrested in Hungary last year trying to get to
Syria.