US State Department designates Indian-origin UK citizen Siddhartha Dhar as a global terrorist

The US State Department on Tuesday designated Indian-born British citizen Siddhartha Dhar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The department said that Dhar, who was once a member of the defunct extremist organisation Al-Muhajiroun, left the United Kingdom in 2014 and travelled to Syria with his wife and children to join the Islamic State.

Dhar replaced the Islamic State executioner Mohammad Emwazi, better known as “Jihadi John”, the US State Department said. It added that Dhar may be the masked militant who appeared in an Islamic State video in 2016, which showed the execution of several prisoners the militant organisation accused of spying for Britain.

The US State Department also designated Islamic State militant Abdelatif Gaini as a global terrorist. The department said Gaini is a Belgian-Moroccan citizen believed to be fighting for the Islamic State in West Asia. It added that Giani is connected with UK-based Islamic State sympathisers Mohamad Ali Ahmed and Humza Ali, who were convicted in Britain for terrorism offences in 2016.

The designation of these individuals as global terrorists imposes sanctions on them, the US State Department said. “These designations seek to deny Dhar and Gaini the resources they need to plan and carry out further terrorist attacks,” it added. “Among other consequences, all of Dhar’s and Gaini’s property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.”