US designates Indian-origin IS terrorist Siddhartha Dhar as global terrorist

Washington, January 24: An Indian-origin Islamic State terrorist from Britain Siddhartha Dhar was designated as global terrorists by the United States on Thursday.

 

Notably, the US State Department sanctioned Indian-origin Islamic State terrorist Siddhartha Dhar who hails from Britain along with a Belgian-Moroccan citizen Abdelatif Gaini as global terrorists and imposed stringent sanctions on them.

A State Department spokesperson in a statement said, “The State Department has designated two ISIS members, Siddhartha Dhar and Abdelatif Gaini, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Section 1(b) of Executive Order which also imposes sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the US.”

“Today's action notifies the US public and the international community that Dhar and Gaini have committed or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism, it said. Terrorism designations expose and isolate organizations and individuals, and deny them access to the US financial system. Moreover, designations can assist the law enforcement activities of US agencies and other governments,” the spokesman said.

These designations seek to deny Dhar and Gaini the resources they need to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks, the spokesperson noted. “Among other consequences, all of Dhars and Gainis property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them,” the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson in a statement also said, “Dhar was dubbed as the New Jihadi John and became a senior commander of the dreaded outfit.” Dhar was a leading member of now-defunct terrorist organization Al-Muhajiroun. In late 2014, Dhar left the United Kingdom to travel to Syria to join ISIS, it said. He is considered to have replaced ISIS executioner Mohammad Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John", the statement said.

Siddhartha Dhar who hails from Britain was converted to Islam and now goes by the name Abu Rumaysah travelled to Syria with his wife and young children in the year 2014. A Yazidi teenager Nihad Barakat who was held as a sex slave by ISIS said that she was kidnapped and trafficked by Dhar. Dhar is also believed to be the masked leader who appeared in a January 2016 ISIS video of the execution of several prisoners ISIS accused of spying for the UK.

On the other side, Abdelatif Gaini is a Belgian-Moroccan citizen believed to be fighting for ISIS in the Middle East. Gaini is connected to UK-based ISIS sympathizers Mohamad Ali Ahmed and Humza Ali, who was convicted in the UK in 2016 of terrorism offenses.