Islamic State killer ‘Jihadi John’ revealed as young Londoner
LONDON — The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who is seen beheading hostages held by Islamic State in videos circulated widely online.
But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming.
“I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John,” said one of Emwazi’s close friends who identified him in an interview with The Washington Post. “He was like a brother to me. ... I am sure it is him.”
A representative of a British human rights group who had been in contact with Emwazi before he left for Syria also said he believed Emwazi is Jihadi John, a moniker given to him by some of the hostages he once held.
“There was an extremely strong resemblance,” Asim Qureshi, research director at the rights group, CAGE, said when shown one of the videos.
Jihadi John is believed to have travelled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize.
Since he was seen in the first video killing American journalist James Foley, Jihadi John has appeared in a series of videos documenting the gruesome killings of other hostages, including four Westerners, some of whom he personally beheaded.
The Kuwait-born Emwazi, in his mid-20s, appears to have left little trail on social media or elsewhere online. Those who knew him say he was polite and had a penchant for wearing stylish clothes while adhering to the tenets of his Islamic faith.
The friends, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, believe that Emwazi started to radicalize after a planned safari in Tanzania went wrong.
When Emwazi and two friends landed in Dar es Salaam in May 2009, they were detained by police, held overnight and deported.
Emwazi then flew to Amsterdam, where he claimed an officer from MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency, accused him of trying to reach Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabab operates, according to emails he sent to Qureshi that were provided to The Post.
Emwazi denied the accusation. But a former hostage said he was obsessed with Somalia and made his captives watch videos about alShabab, which is allied with al-Qaida.