Jamal al-Harith

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Jamal al-Harith
Born Manchester
Died 1967 (aged -51–-50)
Syria
Nationality United Kingdom
Other names
  • Abu Zakariya al-Britani
  • Ronald Fiddler
  • Jamal Malik al Harith
  • Jamal Malik Al-Harith
  • Jamal Udeen
  • Jamal al Harithi

Jamal al-Harith was a citizen of the United Kingdom.[1] He was one of 18 men from the United Kingdom who were held in the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camps. Al-Harith was one of nine men from that group who were citizens of the United Kingdom, and he was one of the first four to be released, in 2004, because he had been determined to not have had any ties to terrorism, after all.

Early life

He was born Ronald Fiddler, to parents who immigrated to the UK from Jamaica, who were devout Christians.[2] In his 20s he converted to Islam. He subsequently studied the Arabic language, in Sudan. Upon his return to the UK he worked as a web designer.

Marriages

He was married twice. His first wife bore three children, before the marriage ended in divorce.[2]

He remarried after his return to the UK, after his extrajudicial detention by the Taliban and the United States.

Travel to the Afghanistan region, and subsequent extrajudicial detention

Al-Harith was one of the individuals the press dubbed the Kandahar Five. As the Taliban regime collapsed some intrepid BBC reporters traveled, ahead of US forces, to get footage of an infamous prison in Kandahar. The prison was built by the Soviet Union, and had a reputation of being a torture prison, from that time. The Taliban re-used the prison, and were also reputed to have subjected prisoners to torture and other brutal treatment.

The BBC reporters had heard intelligence reports that the prison was deserted, that all the captives had fled for their homes, after the Taliban guards had fled. They found, however, five hungry prisoners remained - foreign prisoners, the Taliban had been holding as suspected spies, who had no safer haven to flee to.

Their discovery was a propaganda coup for US military spokesmen, who promised that the US occupiers would promptly repatriate the former Taliban prisoners to their homes, at US expense.

Even though being held as a suspected spy, by the Taliban, should have freed the men of any suspicion that they had been members of the Taliban, the US broke the spokesmen's promises, tortured the men, and sent them to Guantanamo.

Al-Harith said he came into the custody of Taliban border guards when he was traveling, as a tourist, in one of the countries neighbouring Afghanistan. He said his driver took a shortcut, that required briefly crossing a corner of Afghanistan, and that this is when he was captured. He said his Taliban captors accused him of being a British spy.

He was finally free on March 9, 2004, approximately two and a half years after his capture.[2]

Al-Harith travelled to Syria, where he volunteered to be a fighter for the Daesh militia group, which occupied a large portion of Syria, for a time, where they administered a defacto state, sometimes known as "The Islamic State".[1]

Commentators claim he was only radicalized after his release from Guantanamo.[1] Al-Harith, together with the other UK citizens held in Guantanamo, received a settlement of one million pounds, to compensate them for the UK government failing to effectively protect their human rights.[3]

Al-Harith had married UK citizen Shukee Begum, after his return to the UK.[1] The pair had five children together. Begum describes choosing to follow al-Harith, in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to defect.[4] After a long ordeal, she was able to defect, with her children.[5]

Al-Harith was killed in combat prior to the final collapse of the last Daesh enclave.[1] The Washingtong Post reports that he blew himself up, using a suicide bomb, while attempting to kill enemy fighters.[3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Nicola Harley (2015-10-09). "Former Guantanamo detainee has left UK to join Isil: Security services did not stop Jamal Al Harif from leaving the country". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2019-03-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20190308020441/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11923600/Former-Guantanamo-detainee-has-left-UK-to-join-Isil.html. Retrieved 2022-11-21. "Al Harif was one of four men to be released from the camp in 2004. On his release, former home secretary David Blunkett said the detainees being released 'posed no threat' to the British people." 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "At-a-glance: Guantanamo Bay Britons: Five of the nine British nationals being held by the American authorities at Guantanamo Bay detention camp are being released after more than two years in US military base in Guantanamo Bay". BBC News. 2004-03-00. Archived from the original on 2021-02-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20210226071021/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3089395.stm. Retrieved 2022-11-21. "He was believed to have been captured by US forces while being held in Kandahar Jail. He had been away from home only three weeks when he was captured. According to reports, he told US soldiers he had paid a lorry driver to take him from northern Pakistan to Iran as part of a backpacking trip, but was stopped near the Afghan border by Taleban soldiers who saw his British passport and jailed him, fearing he was a spy." 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Karla Adam (2017-02-22). "Former Guantanamo Bay detainee said to have turned suicide bomber". Washington Post (London). Archived from the original on 2021-01-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20210111224816/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/former-guantanamo-bay-detainee-said-to-have-turned-suicide-bomber/2017/02/22/29ae95ca-f909-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html. Retrieved 2022-11-21. 
  4. Kate Ferguson (2015-09-23). "British woman Shukee Begum who fled Isis with her five children rescued by Syria rebels: Shukee Begum travelled to Syria with her children to find her husband". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2017-06-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20170621031628/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/british-woman-shukee-begum-who-fled-isis-with-her-five-children-rescued-by-syria-rebels-10513564.html. Retrieved 2022-11-21. "According to The Levant Front, she had made the dangerous journey to convince her husband to leave the terror group, but failed to convince him." 
  5. Lucy Clarke-Billings (2015-10-15). "British mother Shukee Begum in Syria: 'Isil is not my cup of tea': Shukee Begum travelled to Syria in search of her husband, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal al-Harith, last year". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20190502162445/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11933433/British-mother-Shukee-Begum-in-Syria-Isil-is-not-my-cup-of-tea.html. Retrieved 2022-11-21. "Ms Begum, 33, travelled to Syria in search of her husband, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamal al-Harith, in August last year, after he joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant." 
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