ISIS Says British Militant Carried Out Suicide Attack in Iraq
Several British news organizations — including the BBC, The Times of London and The Guardian — reported Tuesday evening
that the man was Jamal Malik al-Harith, a native of Manchester, England, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001; detained by the United States in the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, from 2002 to 2004; and released to Britain, where the government later awarded him 1 million pounds, about $1.25 million at current exchange rates, to settle a lawsuit.
However, the case of Mr. Harith and several other British citizens held at Guantánamo became divisive,
and the British government — then led by Mr. Blair — helped secure their release.
Blair said that It is correct that Jamal al-Harith was released from Guantánamo Bay at the request of the British government in 2004,
Maj. Ben Sakrisson, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement: "I can confirm
that an individual named Jamal Malik al-Harith was detained in the Guantánamo Bay detention facility from February 2002 to March 2004, when he was released to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Blair said in a statement that he was being unfairly blamed for the Americans’
release of Mr. Harith to Britain, even though it was widely supported at the time.
"The reason it did take a long time for their release was precisely the anxiety over their true affiliations,"
he added, referring to Mr. Harith and other Britons who had been held at Guantánamo.
22, 2017
LONDON — They called him Abu Zakariya al-Britani — the surname means "the Briton" —
and they say he blew himself up on Monday in an attack at a village southwest of Mosul, Iraq.
