The masked murderer called “Jihadi John” by the media, who fronted the self styled “Islamic State” beheading videos has been identified as Mohammed Emwazi, a British computer programming graduate from a well-to-do London family.
The black-clad militant brandishing a knife and speaking with an English accent was shown in videos released by Islamic State (IS) apparently decapitating hostages including Americans, Britons and Syrians.
The 26-year-old militant in the videos threatened the West, abused its Arab allies and taunted US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron before terrified helpless hostages in orange jump suits.
Emwazi’s name was first disclosed by the Washington Post. Two U.S. government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed to Reuters that investigators believed Jihadi John was Emwazi.
Dressed entirely in black, a balaclava covering all but his eyes and the bridge of his nose and a holster under his left arm, Jihadi John became a menacing symbol of the “Islamic State”‘s brutality and one of the world’s most wanted men.
Hostages called him John as he and other Britons in Islamic State had been nicknamed the Beatles.
He was unmasked publicly for the first time on Friday by British media which published a photograph showing Emwazi as a schoolboy.
The Daily Mail newspaper published a picture showing Emwazi smiling and sitting cross-legged on the grass at the front of the photograph from the St Mary Magdalene Church of England primary school in Maida Vale, West London.
Emwazi was born in Kuwait but came to Britain aged 6 and graduated with a computer programming degree from the University of Westminster before coming to the attention of Britain’s main domestic intelligence service, MI5, according to an account given by Asim Qureshi, the research director of the Cage charity that campaigns for those detained on terrorism charges.
Emwazi, a fluent Arabic speaker, said MI5 had tried to recruit him and then prevented him from traveling abroad, forcing him to flee abroad without telling his family, Qureshi told a news conference in London.
Emwazi traveled to Syria around 2012, Qureshi said.
MI5 does not publicly comment on the identity of militants or their backgrounds while an investigation is still ongoing. The British government and police declined to confirm or deny Emwazi’s identity, citing an ongoing security investigation.
“We don’t confirm or deny matters relating to intelligence,” said a spokeswoman for Cameron, who has ordered spy agencies and soldiers to track down the killer.
“Jihadi John” rose to notoriety in August 2014 when a video appeared showing a masked man raging against the United States before apparently beheading U.S. citizen James Foley off camera.
Intelligence services in the United States and Britain used a variety of investigative techniques including voice and facial recognition as well as interviews with former hostages to identify the man, intelligence sources said.
But security officials made great efforts to avoid publicly naming Emwazi, fearing that would make him more difficult to catch. Two intelligence sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were uneasy that the name had been revealed.
There was no answer at two addresses in west London where Emwazi was listed to have lived. Neighbors described the family as “normal people” and “friendly”.
British authorities have linked Emwazi to another British militant killed in Somalia in a U.S. drone attack.
A British court ruling dated December 2011 reported that Elwazi was an associate of Bilal al Berjawi, a high-ranking leader of the Somali-based militant group al Shabaab, a person in possession of the court ruling said.
After becoming frustrated following three failed attempts to return to Kuwait, and changing his name to Mohammed al-Ayan, Emwazi left his parents’ home and slipped out of Britain, according to Qureshi.
Four months later, police visited the family home to say they had information he had entered Syria. His family thought he was in Turkey doing aid work.
“Jihadi John” fronted gruesome Islamic State videos that showed either the killing or bodies of victims including U.S. citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, Britons David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese Kenji Goto and over 20 Syrian soldiers.
