The Islamic State executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’ was today identified as a university graduate from London.
Mohammed Emwazi, 27, of Queen’s Park, west London, who studied computer programming at the University of Westminster, is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2012 and later joined ISIS.
Jihadi John has featured in the execution videos of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker David Haines, 22 Syrian soldiers and Japanese reporter Kenji Goto
Arabic speaker Mr Emwazi, who first moved to Britain aged six, was said to have been raised in a middle-class family and occasionally prayed at a mosque in Greenwich, south-east London.
But after graduating in computing in 2009, he claimed to have been harassed and intimidated by the security services – and even complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Mr Emwazi claimed an agent from MI5 knew ‘everything about me; where I lived, what I did, and the people I hanged around with’ and alleged that the agency attempted to ‘turn’ him to work for them
One of Kuwait-born Mr Emwazi’s close friends identified him, telling a newspaper:
‘I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John. He was like a brother to me… I am sure it is him.’
And Asim Qureshi, research director a British human rights group Cage, who had been in contact with Mr Emwazi before he left for Syria, said he also believed the man was Jihadi John.
He told the Washington Post:
‘There was an extremely strong resemblance. This is making me feel fairly certain that this is the same person.’