'I can tell by his smile': Brother IDs British IS suicide bomber as 'former Guantanamo inmate'
A suicide bomber from the Islamic State group has been identified as a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, who was allegedly paid one million pounds "hush money" by the British government.
The UK fighter who IS claimed detonated a suicide bomb against Iraqi forces outside Mosul was named in British media as Jamal al-Harith, who was reportedly detained at the United States base between 2002 and 2004.
Before he converted to Islam in his 20s, the militant was reportedly known as Ronald Fiddler.
He later went by the name Jamal al-Harith before he changed it again to al-Britani, the suffix indicating his country of origin in a practice used by other foreign fighters who have sworn their allegiance to IS.
Smiling suicide bomber identified as Jamal al-Harith was reportedly a former detainee in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
An image released by IS and published on Monday by the SITE Intelligence Group was confirmed as al-Harith by his brother Leon Jameson.
"It is him, I can tell by his smile. If it is true then I've lost a brother, so another family [member] gone," Jameson told The Times.
Following his detention in Guantanamo Bay, al-Harith was paid more than one million pounds in compensation by the Blair government, according to the Daily Mail.
Ronald Fiddler was reportedly paid one million pounds by the UK government, according to Daily Mail.
Channel 4 News cited an unnamed family member and another anonymous source as confirming Harith was pictured in the IS image.
The photograph shows him smiling, dressed in camouflage clothing and appearing to be seated in a vehicle with wires and switches in the background.
The British government said it could not verify the reports, or responded to the allegations of the paid compensation.
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"The UK has advised for some time against all travel to Syria, and against all travel to large parts of Iraq.
"As all UK consular services are suspended in Syria and greatly limited in Iraq, it is extremely difficult to confirm the whereabouts and status of British nationals in these areas," a spokeswoman told AFP.
Harith, a Muslim convert of Jamaican origin was jailed in Afghanistan by the ruling Taliban because he held a British passport.
The suicide bomber has reportedly been identified as Ronald Fiddler. Source: Getty
After the regime was toppled he was arrested by US troops in early 2002 and sent to Guantanamo, where he alleged he experienced beatings and degrading treatment.
On returning to Britain in 2004 he was briefly questioned by police and released without charge.
Harith travelled to Turkey and crossed into Syria in April 2014, the BBC reported citing Islamic State registration papers.
al-Harith reportedly drove a truck bomb similar to this one on a suicide mission.
The following year his wife, Shukee Begum, reportedly travelled to Syria along with her five children in what she said was an effort to convince her husband to abandon IS.
After being reunited with Harith she was not allowed to leave IS territory and was smuggled out, she told Channel 4.
