A British ISIS suicide bomber has been revealed as a former Guantanamo prisoner who was handed the equivalent of $1.25million in British taxpayers' money as compensation before fleeing to Syria.

UK national Jamal Udeen al-Harith was photographed moments before blowing himself up in an attack on a military facility near Mosul in Iraq.

The Muslim convert - who changed his name from Ronald Fiddler in 1994 - was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2002 after he was caught by American forces in Afghanistan.

After intense campaigning by Tony Blair’s government led by then-Home Secretary David Blunkett, the British citizen was freed two years later.

He launched a compensation claim on the grounds British agents knew or were complicit in his mistreatment and was handed £1million ($1.25million) in reparations.

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UK national Jamal Udeen al-Harith was photographed moments before blowing himself up in an attack on a military facility near Mosul in Iraq (pictured)

Shortly after detonating the explosive-laden car near an army base this month, ISIS released a statement revealing al-Harith had been fighting for them under the name Abu Zakariya al-Britani.

Al-Harith, however, previously denied being a terrorist and claimed to have been taken prisoner by the Taliban after visiting the Middle East as part of a 'religious holiday'.

At the time of his release from Guantanamo, Blunkett said: 'No one who is returned… will actually be a threat to the security of the British people.'

But it emerged that, despite security services being fully aware of his previous detention, al-Harith, who worked as a web designer for a time, was able to escape the UK in 2014 to fight with ISIS in Syria, leading to his eventual death.

ISIS claim his suicide attack, during a raging battle for control of the city, caused multiple casualties but this has not been confirmed.

The Muslim convert changed his name from Ronald Fiddler to Jamal Udeen al-Harith in 1994, before fighting for ISIS under the new name Abu Zakariya al-Britani

After his release from Guantanamo, al-Harith spoke of the treatment he received at the hands of the guards.

Speaking in 2004, he told the Mirror: 'The whole point... was to get to you psychologically.

'The beatings were not nearly as bad as the psychological torture - bruises heal after a week but the other stuff stays with you.

'After a while, we stopped asking for human rights - we wanted animal rights.'

He said he was interviewed upwards of 40 times by American officials - sometimes to 12 hours at a time - and nine times by British agents.

He was finally released with five others and alongside the three men known as the Tipton Three – Rhuhel Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul.

Al-Harith gives testimony before a Council of Europe panel in 2004 (shown right), as part of an inquiry into human rights abuses at Gauntanamo Bay

Leon Jameson, Harith’s brother, told the Times he had ‘wasted his life’. Shown his picture, he said: ‘It is him, I can tell by his smile. If it is true then I’ve lost a brother, so another family (member) gone.’

His journey was revealed following an escape from ISIS-controlled Syria in 2015 by British mother Shukee Begum and her five children.

Miss Begum was married to al-Harith before he left the family home in Birmingham to fight in Syria, and had flown to the war-torn country to try to persuade the fanatic to return to the UK.

Al-Harith's British wife Shukee Begum, along with their five children, joined him in Syria in 2015 before fleeing from the ISIS-controlled territory

However, her attempts failed, and she endured a ten-month ordeal being passed between hostages and rebel groups as she tried to escape.

In 2015, she told Channel 4: 'I’d love to go back to the UK. The UK is my home. I grew up there. My friends are there. My family are there. That’s where I consider to be home.

'But I’m just not sure at the moment, with the track record of the current government, if the UK is somewhere I can achieve justice. I hope I’m wrong.'

At the time, she said she was biding her time before returning to Britain because she fears she could face terrorism charges.

Ms Begum, a law graduate from Greater Manchester, insists she did not support the extremists, and says she wanted to persuade al-Harith to return to the family home.

She told Channel 4 News: 'I was thinking about the children's futures. Was he part of it? Will he come back? All these things go through your mind.'

Footage said to have been captured yesterday morning shows Abu Zakariya's reinforced vehicle setting off along a dusty road

The video then cuts to a plume of smoke in the distance after the car bomb is detonated

TIMELINE OF EVENTS 1966: Ronald Fiddler is born in Manchester to devout Christian parents originating from Jamaica 1994: He converts to Islam, changing his name to Jamal Udeen al-Harith October 2001: Al-Harith travels to Quetta in Pakistan, on a 'religious holiday'. A few day later the US invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan began Early 2002: He is arrested by American forces in Afghanistan after they discover him in a Taliban jail and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay prison 2004: After lobbying from Tony Blair's Labour government, al-Harith is released along with five others. He returns to the UK where he is released without charge, and joins three other prisoners in suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld 2009: His case against Rumsfield and the US government is finally dismissed on the grounds of 'limited immunity' for government officials 2014: Despite security services being fully aware of his previous detention, he is able to escape the UK to fight with ISIS in Syria 2015: His British wife Shukee Begum, along with their five children, join him in Syria before fleeing from the Isis-controlled territory February 2017: Al-Harith is killed in a suicide attack near Mosul, Iraq Advertisement

She added: 'I was seeing on the news at this point that Isis was going from bad to worse… So I decided that I was going to try and speak some sense into him.

'At the same time I wanted to see him. I wanted the children to see their father. I wanted the baby to meet his father as well.'

After arriving in Syria, Ms Begum ended up living in a crowded safe-house in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, along with dozens of other foreign women looking for their husbands.

Eventually, Ms Begum and her children were reunited with al-Harith, and the family moved to a house near al-Bab in northern Syria.

But her planned to bring him home failed as she could not convince him to leave.

Ms Begum said she only planned to keep the children in Syria for a month, but after a bag containing her phones, travel money and passports was stolen, she found herself trapped.

She asked her husband to help her get out, to no avail. And she appealed to an Islamic court to give her permission to leave, but was told: 'Women and children belong in ISIS territory.'

She reached safety when she was rescued by Al Qaeda-linked group Al Nusra. Her last known location was in Syria, on the Turkish border.

Al-Harith's back story has resurfaced after pictures online shows him grinning next to what appears to be wires connected to a red-buttoned detonator.

Muslim convert al-Harith (left) was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2002. He has been pictured in the past with fellow Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg (right)

Born Ronald Fiddler, he turned to Islam in the 1990s and changed his name to Jamal Udeen al-Harith.

He visited Australia for several months in 2000 after striking up a relationship online with Samantha Cook, the daughter of senator Peter Cook.

He stayed with Samantha in Perth up until mid-2000, before returning to Manchester.

In October 2001, he travelled to Quetta in Pakistan, on what he claimed was a religious holiday. A few days later the US invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan began.

He claimed the Taliban locked him up and accused him of being a British spy. A few months later he was found in a Taliban jail by US special forces and transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

Maxine Fiddler, Jamal's father and Maxine Fiddler, Jamal's sister, pictured during his detention at Guantanamo

US authorities considered that he was ‘probably involved in a former terrorist attack against the US’.

He was assessed as being an Al Qaeda fighter and considered a ‘high threat to the US’.

When al-Harith was released in 2004, he was repatriated to England and released without charge.

‘This is a scandalous situation,’ said Tory MP Tim Loughton. ‘So much for Tony Blair’s assurances that this extremist did not pose a security threat.

‘He clearly was a risk to Britain and our security all along. It adds insult to injury that he was given £1million in compensation because of Blair’s flawed judgement that he was an innocent.’

Liberal Democrat MP John Pugh said: ‘This raises serious questions about the reassurances Labour gave us that this man posed no danger.

CAGE WEBSITE'S GLOWING AL-HARITH REFERENCE The website, originally formed to raise awareness of the plight of prisoners of Guantanamo, still has a profile for al-Harith on its website, from when he was released. It reads: 'Al-Harith converted to Islam in his 20s after reading Malcom X's biography. He has two sisters, Maxine and Sharon. 'His family say he is a gentle, quiet man who rarely spoke of his faith unless asked, and after four years learning Arabic and teaching English at Khartoum University in Sudan, he seemed happy enough to return home where he started to study nursing. At this time, he also established a computer business. He later moved back to Manchester, where he worked as an administrator in a Muslim school. 'He travelled from the UK to Pakistan at the end of September 2001, retracing a journey he had made to Iran in 1993. He paid a lorry driver to take him from northern Pakistan to Iran as part of a backpacking trip, but they were stopped near the Afghan border by Taliban soldiers who saw his British passport and jailed him, in October, fearing he was a spy. He had been away from home only three weeks when he was captured. 'As the operation to mop up al Qaida forces went on into the spring of 2001, he was captured by US forces while being held in Kandahar Jail. He was interrogated by the CIA in Afghanistan before being taken to Guantanamo. 'He was released from Guantanamo and returned to the UK on 9th March 2004. After a few hours of questioning he was released without charge and reunited with his family. Jamal was the first of the British detainees to speak publicly about his ordeal. He married in late 2004 and has three children (aged 3,5, and 8) from a previous marriage.' Source: old.cageprisoners.com Advertisement

Al-Harith (left) is pictured in his early years in Manchester, England, before his detention at Gauntanamo in 2002. His wife Shukee Begum is shown right

‘It is a kick in the teeth that he was given a fortune in taxpayers’ money after claiming he was innocent only to flee to Islamic State and pose a risk to the UK.

‘The Home Office needs to explain how he was able to leave the country so easily despite his background mixing with those at the very top of Islamic terrorism.’

ISIS said al-Harith as one of two militants involved in the attack on a Shiite army outpost.

The attack came as Iraqi forces advanced on ISIS positions in the west of the city.

Footage said to have been captured on Monday shows a reinforced vehicle setting off along a dusty road. The video then cuts to a plume of smoke in the distance.

A statement released by the terror group today said: 'The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani - may Allah accept him - detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul.'

The attack came as Iraqi forces advanced on ISIS positions in the west of the city

Kyle Orton, a specialist in Islamist groups at the Henry Jackson Society security think-tank, said: ‘Fiddler is part of a considerable cadre of people released from Guantanamo Bay who have returned straight to the ranks. This keeps happening so the drive to shut the camp has always been a very, very serious threat.

‘Allowing people to be put back in the field is a concrete security threat. The drive to release has been disastrous in terms of the consequences for Western security.’

Afzal Ashraf, a former counter-terrorism adviser to the United States in Iraq, told the BBC that the incident showed ‘some of the people in Guantanamo Bay were up to no good’.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: '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.'

Terror suspects we gave $1.25million each to keep them quiet

By Ian Drury, Home Affairs Editor

As many as 16 British citizens and residents received millions of pounds in compensation after being held in Guantanamo Bay.

A deal believed to be worth almost $25million was agreed by the Government after the terror suspects threatened legal action.

The detainees, many of whom claimed they were victims of kidnap and torture, warned they would sue Britain for its involvement in their abuse. Many alleged that UK spies were complicit in barbaric mistreatment at the US military base in Cuba following 9/11.

Ministers settled the case on the grounds that they could not defend themselves against the damaging allegations without harming British security by revealing sensitive intelligence information.

Former detainees of Guantanamo Bay; al-Harith, Moazzam Begg and Martin Mubanga

Then Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, who revealed details of the settlement in the Commons in November 2010, said the deal was confidential but necessary.

A legal battle would have laid bare the depth to which Tony Blair’s Labour Government was complicit in rendition and torture – but the Tory-led coalition made clear that it wanted to avoid a court case which would have cost up to $60million.

The payouts sparked anger among MPs, who called them money for old rope and said the settlements would give comfort to our enemies.

Up to $1.25million was handed to each of the former Guantanamo Bay captives, including Binyam Mohamed, who alleged that British agents fed questions to his interrogators.

Mohamed was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to a CIA prison in Kabul, then transferred to Morocco, where he claimed he was cut and repeatedly beaten. In 2004 he was sent to Guantanamo, where he was held until his return to the UK in 2009.

Another terror suspect to receive compensation was Martin Mubenga, a joint citizen of both the United Kingdom and Zambia. He was held in Africa, and claimed to have been interrogated by a British man who said he was an MI6 official. They allegedly told him that his UK passport, which he had reported stolen, was found in an Al Qaeda cave in Afghanistan. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay and held for 33 months.

Another recipient was Moazzam Begg, who ran a Muslim bookshop in Birmingham before moving to Afghanistan.

He was captured in Pakistan in 2002 by the CIA, who said he was an Al Qaeda recruiter.

He is now a leading member of the discredited Cage human rights group, described knife-wielding executioner Mohammed Emwazi – dubbed ‘Jihadi John’ – as a ‘beautiful young man’ after he was killed in an airstrike. Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in Guantanamo, also received $1.25million. The father of four was freed in October 2015, but his release was delayed for at least eight years amid claims the US was concerned about Britain’s ability to monitor terror suspects.

Mr Aamer, who was held without trial or charge for almost 14 years, was seized in Afghanistan in 2001. He denied accusations that he was a key aide of Osama Bin Laden.

CompensatioN: (from left to right); Martin Mubanga, Moazzam Begg and al-Harith

He was released after a campaign by the Mail, which argued that although he had questions to answer about his presence in Afghanistan, it was an affront to justice to detain him without charge or trial.

In 2010, then Prime Minister David Cameron ordered Sir Peter Gibson to head the Detainee Inquiry to look into the claims that our intelligence services were complicit in torture. However, it was suspended after two years while police investigated claims that MI6 was involved in the extraordinary rendition of two Libyan dissidents, Abdul Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi. In 2013 Sir Peter’s inquiry closed its investigation on the basis that it could not continue while Scotland Yard pursued its own inquiries. The probe was scrapped after prosecutors controversially ruled that no one would stand trial over claims that spies helped to put Mr Belhaj and Mr al-Saadi in the clutches of Colonel Gaddafi in 2004.

However, an interim report by Sir Peter, a High Court judge, found that MI6 agents had not properly raised concerns about sleep deprivation and waterboarding for fear of offending US allies.

Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee was handed the case as part of its wider inquiry into rendition.

For the first time, it was officially confirmed that politicians knew the UK was involved in the CIA’s unlawful programme of torture flights. Mr Cameron was accused of a whitewash after rejecting calls to re-open the Detainee Inquiry.

He re-iterated that the work would be done by Parliament’s secretive ISC – even though it is subject to a Government veto on the evidence it sees and what it can publish.

In 2010, Mr Cameron had told Parliament an ISC inquiry could not command ‘public confidence’. But last June he maintained that giving it the brief was the ‘right approach.’