UK gave Gitmo inmate $1.5 million; now he has fled to the Islamic State
October 9, 2015 7:51 pm By Robert Spencer 33 Comments
Blair pressed hard for his release from Guantanamo. He played the victimhood game to the hilt — witness this Mirror headline: Mirror Jamal al-Harith Hell CampXray
But for all his celebrated victimhood status and praise from the British intelligentsia as a living sign of the evil of the West, he really was a jihadi, and now he has fled to the Islamic State. His $1.5 million has presumably gone with him and will soon enrich the caliphate coffers with more money for weapons.
Jamal al-Harith
“UK gave freed Guantanamo inmate £1million in compensation… now he’s fled to Syria and joined ISIS,” by Ian Drury and Emily Davies, Daily Mail, October 9, 2015 (thanks to Marc):
A terror suspect given £1million compensation by Britain after he was freed from Guantanamo Bay has fled to join Islamic State.
Muslim convert Jamal al-Harith was awarded the payout after being released from the US military jail in 2004.
The suspected Taliban sympathiser was flown to the notorious camp in Cuba and locked up after being captured in Afghanistan by US troops in March 2002.
But after intense campaigning by Tony Blair’s government, British citizen al-Harith – who had pleaded his innocence – was let out two years later.
He launched a compensation claim on the grounds British agents knew or were complicit in his mistreatment and was handed up to £1million of taxpayers’ money to stay silent.
But last night it emerged that, despite security services being fully aware of his previous detention, al-Harith was able to escape the UK 18 months ago to fight with IS in Syria. His journey has been revealed following an escape from IS-controlled Syria last month by British mother Shukee Begum and her five children.
Channel 4 News disclosed that Miss Begum, 33, is married to al-Harith, and had flown to the war-torn country to try to persuade the fanatic to return to the UK.
However, her attempts failed, and she endured a ten-month ordeal being passed between hostages and rebel groups as she tried to escape.
She reached safety last month when she was rescued by Al Qaeda-linked group Al Nusra.
Last night questions were raised as to how al-Harith was able to leave the UK to join IS and how his wife was able to follow him, placing doubt on the Government’s ability to effectively monitor terror suspects. It is not known if any limits were placed on al-Harith’s travel. Fresh questions were also raised about the preparations put in place by the security services ahead of the return of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantanamo.
The father-of-four, 48, is set to be freed by the end of the month but his release has been delayed for at least eight years amid allegations the US is concerned about Britain’s ability to monitor terror suspects.
Mr Aamer, who has been held without trial or charge for almost 14 years, was seized in Afghanistan in 2001. He denies accusations that he was a key aide of Osama Bin Laden.
At the time of al-Harith’s release, then home secretary David Blunkett said: ‘No one who is returned … will actually be a threat to the security of the British people.’
How does the clueless and compromised British government propose to accomplish that?
In a newspaper interview after his release al-Harith, who insisted he had been tortured, said: ‘It was very, very hard times, but I tried to think about nothing but survival.’
Born Ronald Fiddler, he turned to Islam in the 1990s and changed his name to Jamal Udeen al-Harith….
Yet another convert to Islam misunderstands his peaceful new religion, and British authorities have no curiosity about why that keeps happening at all.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/10/uk-gave-gitmo-inmate-1-5-million-now-he-has-fled-to-the-islamic-state
