ISIS executioner with nickname White Beard is still in jail

ISIS executioner with nickname White Beard is still in jail

Iraqi security officials have denied claims by local politicians that they freed a notorious ISIS henchman, nicknamed White Beard, after he paid a £5,455 bribe.

They released photographs of the fanatical cleric, with his infamous white facial hair shaved off and guarded by a uniformed officer, to prove he is still in custody.

The zealot was one of the terror group’s most fearsome and easily identifiable henchmen. He was present when homosexuals were thrown from buildings and victims beheaded and stoned to death for minor offences.

The man in the official photos is wearing a coat almost identical to that worn by White Beard when he was picked up more than a week ago.

Officials also uploaded a picture of his ID papers.

He also seems to have lost some weight since his arrest but appears to be the man known as White Beard.

Government officials named the cleric as Eiz Aldin Taha. Local sources said he was called Abu Omer when news of the arrest was revealed on 2 January.

The regime leader is said to have presided over dozens of killings in the terror group’s former stronghold of Mosul in Iraq.

Anti-ISIS groups celebrated when it was revealed he’d been detained by members of the Iraq Security Forces.

However, it was then claimed that he was free in minutes after handing over $7,500 in $100 dollars to officials. The sum is equivalent to £5,455.

The human rights watch group the Clarion Project revealed on its website: ‘In a remarkable failure of the Iraqi justice system, ISIS’ religious leader was arrested and released just minutes later after paying a $7,500 bribe.’

The incident took place in a police station in Mosul, according to local official Zuheir Hazzen el-Jaburi.

‘I was in Mosul when a force from police intelligence arrested a man. After questioning they were told he was the mufti for the right bank of the river in the city – an ISIS member,’ el-Jaburi said.

‘We asked people who he was, and they proved he really was ISIS’ mufti.

‘After he was arrested, he left a motorbike behind. An hour later we saw the motorbike was no longer there.

‘We inquired about it. They said he was released 10 minutes earlier after he paid 75 notes [$7,500].’

The evil terror boss is seen in several sick execution videos filmed before the group’s self-proclaimed Caliphate in Syria and Iraq collapsed.

In one such clip from March 2015, three men accused of homosexuality and blasphemy are forced to their knees and publicly beheaded.

The blindfolded men are seen kneeling in the centre of what appears to be a roundabout in front of a crowd of people as a masked executioner stands by with a long, rusty blade.

An elderly man that appears to be the suspect addresses the crowd as the executioner positions his sword above the men’s heads in the unnamed city in northern Iraq.

Other snaps seem to show him inspecting a pile of rocks ahead of a public stoning.

Source: Daily Mail