Siddhartha Dhar: 'New Jihadi John' rails against Western media and Shia Islam in YouTube rant
Siddhartha Dhar, believed to have carried out a series of executions in Islamic State's most recent propaganda footage, posted a video on YouTube in 2014, in which he railed against the West, Iran, and Shia Islam.
Apparently posted on the website before Dhar fled Britain to join the Islamic State (Isis), the 45-minute-long video shows the Jihad advocate giving a sermon in a style popularised by radical Islamist preachers who have taken to the internet to spread their message.
Titled 'Don't trust western media', the video appears on a channel bearing Dahr's Islamic name, Abu Rumaysah, and his picture. The channel has been inactive since the summer of 2014, shortly before Dahr is known to have travelled to Syria. Links attached to the videos redirect to what appears to his Twitter account which has been deactivated by the social media site.
The video itself is rambling. It is at times anti-Semitic, but the mainstay of its vitriol is saved for Shia Islam, the Western media, and Kuffar (unbelievers). Dhar calls Shia Muslims (a branch of Islam opposed to the Sunni IS) a "very violent and ugly people". Referencing Iran and the paramilitary group Hezbollah which it backs, Dhar adds "they are willing to kill you and fight you for it" before claiming the Shia faith is 99% lies.
"There are many allegations against the Islamic States [sic]. There are many accusations, false accusations that they are killing Yazidis, that they are killing women and children – ridiculous. I don't know how the kuffar believe it but they are saying it and they believe it," he goes on to tell the 4,150 who have viewed the video.
Dhar names the BBC and CNN as untrustworthy media institutions despite numerous interview requests he had granted to the former before he left Britain.
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