The Jihadis Next Door: London extremist Abu Rumaysah warned of ‘black flag of Islam’ flying over Downing Street

Readers in the UK – this is on TV tonight. From the London Evening Standard

An east London bouncy castle salesman suspected of being behind an Islamic State execution video warned two years ago the “black flag of Islam” would fly over Downing Street.

Father-of-four Abu Rumaysah is shown in footage shot in January 2014 clutching flags at his Walthamstow garage.

Rumaysah is standing somewhere I recognise and know well –  Boundary Road Walthamstow, outside the Seventh Day Adventist Church. 

In an interview for Channel 4 documentary The Jihadis Next Door, he told director Jamie Roberts: “These are the black flags of Islam. This one’s actually the flag of the Islamic State, so one day when the Sharia comes, you will see this black flag everywhere.” He goes on to claim the flag flying over the Prime Minister’s residence is now “a very real, real possibility the way Muslims are coming forward in this country”.

Mr Rumaysah, whose real name is Siddhartha Dhar, left Britain later that year with his family the day after being released on bail over alleged support for extremist group al-Muhajiroun, travelling to Paris and then Syria. 

He is suspected of being the masked militant in a video showing five men being executed over allegations of spying on IS.