Jamal Udeen Al-Harith | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ronald Fiddler (1966-11-20)20 November 1966[1][2] Manchester, England |
| Died | 21 February 2017(2017-02-21) (aged 50) Mosul, Iraq |
| Cause of death | Suicide bombing |
| Other names | "Abu-Zakariya al-Britani" |
| Citizenship | British |
| Known for | His detainment atGuantanamo Bay andbeing a British citizen who had carried out and died in an act of terror overseas |
| Spouse | Shukee Begum |
| Children | 5 |
| Criminal information | |
| Criminal status | Released |
| Criminal charge | None |
| Imprisoned at | Taliban prison inKandahar; Guantanamo Bay |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Islamic State |
| Years of service | 2014–2017 |
| Battles / wars | Syria Iraq |
Jamal Udeen Al-Harith, bornRonald Fiddler[3] (20 November 1966 – 21 February 2017) also known asAbu-Zakariya al-Britani,[4] was a British citizen who reportedly died carrying out asuicide bombing in Iraq in February 2017.[5][4]
Prior to being in Iraq, Jamal had been held inextrajudicial detention as a suspectedenemy combatant in the United StatesGuantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba for more than two years.[6] Together with theTipton Three, he was among five British citizens repatriated in March 2004 and the next day released by British authorities without charge.[3] That year, he was a party toRasul v. Rumsfeld, which sued the United States government and the militarychain of command for its interrogation tactics. The case was finally dismissed in 2009 after being remanded by theUnited States Supreme Court to theUS District Court for the District of Columbia, on grounds of the government officials having had "limited immunity" at the time. In December 2009, theUS Supreme Court declined to accept the case for hearing on appeal.
The British government paid a compensation of £1 million to Jamal al-Harith after his release from Guantanamo.[7]
He was born Ronald Fiddler in 1966 inManchester, England, to parents who had migrated from Jamaica. He has a sister, Maxine Fiddler.[8] Fiddler attended local schools. He became a web designer, working in Manchester.[3]
In about 1991, Fiddler converted toIslam and officially changed his name to Jamal Udeen Al-Harith.[3]
Al-Harith began an Internet relationship with Samantha Cook, who lived inPerth, Australia. He travelled there in early 2000 to meet her in person. She is the daughter of the Australian SenatorPeter Cook. After their relationship ended in July 2000,[3] he returned to Manchester and his work.
After some time back in Manchester, in 2002, al-Harith claimed that he travelled to Pakistan only as a backpacking trip. While there, he paid a truck driver to take him to Iran. The truck was stopped when he passed near the Afghan border.Taliban guards, seeing his British passport, arrested him as a British spy, which was consistent with their usual treatment of foreigners.[3]
American troops discovered al-Harith among numerous foreigners held by the Taliban in jail inKandahar and released him. He was being aided by theRed Cross to make arrangements to return to Britain. They enabled him to call his family in Britain, whom he told he would be soon flying home. The Red Cross had arranged with the British embassy to fly him out from the American airbase toKabul to meet the British representative.
Al-Harith was detained in Kabul by US forces who found his explanations regarding the purpose of his travels in the region to be implausible. He was arrested as a suspectedenemy combatant and transported toGuantanamo Bay detention camp, where he was one of nine British citizens detained. He was interviewed by representatives ofMI5 and theBritish Foreign Office, as well as by US officials, and, according to US interrogators, he provided them with useful information about the Taliban's methods.[7] The United States notified the Australian government of al-Harith's detention because he had recently been in the country. TheASIO carried out an investigation of his activities while in Australia and concluded that he had not constituted a security risk.[3] After being held for two years, during which he claimed to have experienced "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment", he was released without charge.[3]
In March 2004, al-Harith was among five British citizens, including the Tipton Three, who were released and repatriated to the United Kingdom.[3] Tony Blair's government was involved with getting Abu-Zakariya freed from Guantanamo in 2004,[4] and he defended his government's decision in 2017.[9] The day after they were freed from Guantanamo Bay, all were released by British authorities without charge.[3] After being released, al-Harith joined the British plaintiffsShafiq Rasul,Asif Iqbal, andRuhal Ahmed (theTipton Three), all former Guantánamo Bay detainees, inRasul v. Rumsfeld, to sue Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld in 2004. They charged that illegal interrogation tactics, includingtorture and religious abuse, were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command. They were aided by representation by theCenter for Constitutional Rights and a private law firm.[citation needed]
The case went through several levels of hearings: the US District Court, the Court of Appeals, and the US Supreme Court. Following the US Supreme Court's decision ofBoumediene v. Bush (2008), which ruled that detainees had the right to access federal courts directly, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the US District Court. It dismissed the case in 2009 on the grounds of "limited immunity" for government officials, holding that at the time in question, the courts had not clearly established that torture was prohibited in the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo. (This was established by law in theDetainee Treatment Act of 2005.) In December 2009, the US Supreme Court declined to accept the case for hearing on appeal.
Because of his imprisonment as a "terrorist," al-Harith had difficulty getting work in Britain despite having been paid compensation from the UK government. His sister has said that he struggled to get back to his life.[8]
Al-Harith was one ofnine former Taliban prisoners whom theAssociated Press identified as having been freed from Taliban custody only to be taken up into United States military custody. He was among theKandahar Five, detainees who had all been jailed previously in the Kandahar prison. When theNorthern Alliance liberated the prison in December 2001, they freed 1,500 men.[10]
In 2014, al-Harith travelled to Syria to enlist in theIslamic State.[11] His wife, Shukee Begum, with their five children, joined him for some months in 2015 before fleeing from the IS-controlled territory.[12]
In February 2017, IS announced that al-Harith had been killed when he carried out asuicide car bombing at an Iraqi army base in Tal Gaysum, southwest ofMosul.[4]Reuters cited three anonymous Western security officials, who claimed that it was likely that al-Harith was the suicide bomber.[13] TheUK Prime Minister's office, said that there was no confirmation that he had been the suicide bomber, other than the claims of militants.[5]
On 9 May 2017, IS released a propaganda film from Mosul namedWe Will Surely Guide Them To Our Ways. A part of the film apparently shows al-Harith smiling while inside of a suicide car bomb, before he carried out the suicide bombing. Later on, the film showed aerial footage from a drone of his suicide attack.[14] The film also showed other IS foreign fighters, such as the American citizen,Zulfi Hoxha.[15]
There has been no independent confirmation that an Islamic State suicide bomber who blew himself up in Iraq this week was a British man who had been detained in the Guantanamo Bay prison, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.
Works related toList of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through 15 May 2006 at Wikisource"It is correct that Jamal al-Harith was released from Guantanamo Bay at the request of the British Government in 2004," he [Tony Blair] wrote.
The Islamic State statements could not be independently verified by Reuters but three Western security sources said it was highly likely that Britani was the bomber and now dead.