- Jihadi John revealed as computing graduate from Queen's Park, London
- Mohammed Emwazi, 26, is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2012
- He has featured in six ISIS videos with journalists and aid workers
- Daughter of one victim says relatives won't have closure until he is killed
- Bethany Haines, daughter of beheading victim David, speaks out
- Family of fellow victim, Steven Sotloff, say they want Emwazi captured
- Emwazi claimed agent from MI5 tried to 'turn' him to work for them
- 'Accused by MI5 in 2009 of trying to reach Somalia', home of Al Shabaab
- Detained by UK counter-terror police in 2010 when arriving from Kuwait
- Outrage as lobby group Cage calls him 'beautiful, kind and gentle man'
- Jihadi John's old university was 'hotbed of radicalism', claims ex-pupil
- Sir Menzies Campbell says case has 'echoes' of Lee Rigby death in 2013
Unmasked: ISIS executioner 'Jihadi John' has been identified as Mohammed Emwazi from west London
The daughter of one of Jihadi John's victims said her family will not rest until there is a bullet between the killer's eyes as his identify was revealed for the first time today.
The Islamic State executioner was today named as Mohammed Emwazi, a university graduate from London who was able to flee to Syria despite being on an MI5 terror watch list.
Emwazi, of Queen's Park, west London, was allegedly spoken to three times in one year by police and security services in Tanzania, the Netherlands and Britain.
The 26-year-old, who studied computer programming at the University of Westminster, is said to have travelled to the Middle East three years ago and later joined ISIS.
Tonight, the daughter of David Haines, one of the killer's beheading victims, has said she would only 'feel closure and relief once there's a bullet between his eyes'.
Bethany Haines lost her father when he was brutally executed by Emwazi. The 44-year-old Scottish aid worker was seized in Syria in 2013, and then murdered last September.
She welcomed the fact Emwazi's name had now been made public and said: 'It's a good step but I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there's a bullet between his eyes.'
The 17-year-old told ITV News she did not blame the security services for not preventing her father's murder and added: 'If they'd known his name earlier they could've stopped him going - but they can't and once he's captured I think there will be a lot of happy faces.'
Emwazi has also featured in the execution videos of British aid worker Alan Henning, U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Japanese reporter Kenji Goto and Syrian soldiers.
His identity was confirmed this afternoon by two U.S. government sources. Whitehall sources meanwhile told MailOnline that Emwazi had been known to security services for at least weeks, probably months, but had not made public his identity because the priority was trying to find him.
Arabic speaker Emwazi has one brother and two sisters, and first moved to Britain aged six.
The son of a minicab driver, he was reported to have occasionally prayed at a mosque in Greenwich, south-east London.
A source who claims to have met with Emwazi in Syria told Channel 4 news that they believed Emwazi initially joined the Migrants Brigade or Mujahideen in 2012.
Emwazi was believed to have been based in Syria's Idlib Province and then outside Aleppo, before going on to join Al-Nusra and finally ISIS.
The source described him as personable, sometimes light-hearted but also determined that jihadi fighters were seen in the media as people to be afraid of.
They also described Emwazi as a keen video games player, and a martial arts practitioner.
Ominously, they also described an occasion when Emwazi - as one of the best Arabic speakers in the brigade of foreign fighters - led the interrogation of a man who was questioned before being badly beaten.
Scroll down for video
Victim: David Haines (left) was killed by 'Jihadi John' last September. Tonight, his daughter Bethany (right) said families would only feel closure once 'there was a bullet his eyes'
Home: Minicab driver's son Emwazi - who has three siblings - most recently lived at a flat in Queen's Park
On the scene: Police officers near the property where Emwazi once lived in Queen's Park, west London
After graduating from university in May 2009, Emwazi flew to Tanzania with friends apparently on a safari - but was arrested by police upon landing in Dar es Salaam and sent back to Britain.
En route he stopped in Amsterdam, where he claimed to have been accused by an MI5 officer of trying to reach Somalia, home of the militant group Al Shabaab.
Emwazi claimed to have been harassed and intimidated by security services - and even complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
He alleged an agent from MI5 knew 'everything about me; where I lived, what I did, and the people I hanged around with' and claimed the organisation attempted to 'turn' him to work for them.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
5.2k shares
As it was claimed Emwazi had spoken to police and security services three times in a year, it emerged that senior members of the security services could be called to give evidence to the Intelligence and Security Committee about contact between him and MI5.
Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Lib Dem leader who sits on the ISC, said there were 'echoes' of the case involving Michael Adebolajo, who was on the radar of security services before he went on to brutally murder Fusilier Lee Rigby with Michael Adebowale.
He told BBC Radio 4: 'One of the difficulties here is you can't keep an eye on everyone all the time and, as the committee found in the case of Lee Rigby, there's no doubt that from time to time the security services have got to prioritise those upon whom they're conducting surveillance.'
In attendance: It was claimed Emwazi had spoken to police and security services three times in a year. Officers are pictured outside his former home in Queen's Park today
The family of another victim, American journalist Steven Sotloff, said they were 'relieved' that Emwazi had been named and now wanted to see him captured and brought to justice.
Video released by the militants last September apparently showed the murder of Mr Sotloff, a 31-year-old freelance reporter for American magazines.
Victim: American journalist Steven Sotloff was also killed by 'Jihadi John'. Tonight, his family said they were 'relieved' his identity had been revealed
A spokesman for Mr Sotloff's family told the BBC: 'We want to sit in a courtroom, watch him sentenced and see him sent to a super-max prison.'
Mr Sotloff was last seen in Syria in August 2013, when it is believed he was abducted close to the border with Turkey near the city of Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Cabinet minister and former foreign secretary William Hague insisted a lack of funding was not to blame for the failure of spies to catch Emwazi.
And it was claimed Emwazi's former university was a 'hotbed of radicalism' where students 'celebrated 9/11'.
A picture began to emerge today of Emwazi's background, including the details that:
- He was the son of a mini-cab driver and moved to Britain aged six, having been born in Kuwait
- He has three brothers and sisters and they all lived in a council flat in west London
- He is thought to have attended Quintin Kynaston Academy in St John's Wood, north London, which was also attended by the singer Tulisa
- MI5 apparently persistently tried to recruit him after he graduated from university
- He claims counter-terrorism police arrested him in 2010 and put him on a terror watch list
- This was to stop him leaving Britain but he still managed to flee the country for Syria in 2012
Reporting: Journalists work today outside the home where Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man, once lived
Horrifying: Jihadi John has featured in the execution videos of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker David Haines, 22 Syrian soldiers and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto (pictured)
Emwazi complained of harassment at the hands of MI5 agents for more than a year, similar to Michael Adebolajo, one of the two killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby in south-east London in 2013.
The Washington Post reported Emwazi - who has also been known as Muhammad ibn Muazzam - then moved to his native Kuwait and worked in IT, but he was detained by counter-terrorism police in June 2010 upon a return trip to London.
They allegedly fingerprinted him and searched his belongings, and he was not allowed to fly back to Kuwait. Emwazi was put on a terror watch list and banned from leaving the UK.
The FBI said last September that authorities had been trying to identify Jihadi John using various investigative techniques including voice analysis and interviews with former hostages.
Scotland Yard would not confirm the name, and Downing Street declined to comment on the report. Police attended Emwazi's home in Queen's Park earlier today.
One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, described the family as 'strange people - not like other people around here'.
Another told the London Evening Standard: 'They do not mix with us or socialise, or talk to us. Ever since they moved in a while ago they do not say anything to us.'
Not him: Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary - a London rapper initially identified as a suspect - was ruled out
And another local told the Daily Telegraph: 'It's a big shock, for me at least I'm a neighbour in this estate, it's a big shock for us.'
A spokesman for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London said: 'We believe that the identity and name published by the Washington Post and now in the public realm to be accurate and correct.
LACK OF FUNDING 'NOT TO BLAME FOR FAILURE TO CATCH EMWAZI'
Cabinet minister William Hague today insisted a lack of funding was not to blame for the failure of spies to catch Emwazi.
He said the security services have had the biggest increase in funding of any government department, and had the resources needed to catch terrorists at home and abroad.
The former foreign secretary refused to speculate on the naming of Emwazi, but admitted: 'We are always learning lessons.'
Speaking at a press gallery lunch in Parliament, Mr Hague said that the government has 'kept giving' increases in money to MI5 and MI6.
'Pretty much the best spending settlement of all the departments and agencies was for the security agencies in the last spending round. Certainly we have provided resources to the agencies.'
He revealed he had watched some of the videos in which British hostages had been murdered by ISIS fanatics.
'Some of the most difficult decisions for foreign secretaries and prime ministers are about hostage rescue and about how to do deal with these hostage situations.
'We spend an enormous amount of time on these things, sometimes they are successful and sometimes tragically unsuccessful.'
He warned that the security services will need to 'keep updating their capabilities', backing Home Secretary Theresa May's call for spooks to be able to access and record details of contacts made between terrorists online.
'Technology is changing all the time. We will need to update legislation so that we can keep this safe, that's been hard to do in a coalition and in the current environment but it will need doing in the next few years.'
'Jihadi John is not special, in the sense that all the foreign fighters have tried to hide their identity by using pseudonyms or literally by masking themselves.
'The fact that Jihadi John has been unveiled in this manner demonstrates that whatever efforts are made, the ability to mask one's identity is limited or in fact impossible, and their true identities will eventually be revealed.'
And a University of Westminster spokesman said: 'A Mohammed Emwazi left the university six years ago. If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
'We have students from 150 countries and their safety is of paramount concern. With other universities in London, we are working to implement the Government's Prevent strategy to tackle extremism.'
In September, it was revealed Jihadi John was known to MI5 before he travelled to Syria to join ISIS. It emerged security officials had identified him but his name and background were being kept secret to avoid jeopardising any hostage rescue missions.
Police and security agents said they also wanted to gather more information before raiding the homes of the fanatic's family and friends.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary – a London rapper initially identified as a suspect – was ruled out after analysis of his voice as well as his height and mannerisms.
The 23-year-old came to prominence last year after he posted a photograph of himself on Twitter holding up a severed head.
Other Britons from Portsmouth, Birmingham and Cardiff have been linked to John, who is said to have overseen the torture of hostages and to have led negotiations for French and Italian captives freed in return for ransoms.
It is claimed he was making street collections for genuine Arab charities based in London at the time he came to MI5's attention.
David Cameron has repeatedly called for the infamous terrorist to be punished for his crimes.
In an interview with MailOnline last month, the Prime Minister revealed how he personally watched videos of the brutal beheadings of British hostages carried out by Jihadi John.
'These videos are absolutely horrific and depraved,' the Prime Minister said. 'And obviously I take the time to see what they are doing so I understand what families have been going through.'
Speaking in November, Mr Cameron said: 'You should be in no doubt that I want Jihadi John to face justice for the appalling acts that have been carried out in Syria.'
Do you know Emwazi? Please email laurie.hanna@mailonline.co.uk or call 020 3615 3448
The Jihadi John apologists: Outrage as lobby group describes ISIS executioner as a 'beautiful, extremely kind and gentle young man' - then blames BRITAIN for radicalising him
The group who helped name Mohammed Emwazi as ISIS executioner Jihadi John caused outrage today after blaming MI5 for pushing him towards his killing spree in Syria.
Asim Qureshi, research director at the rights group CAGE, described the world's most wanted man as 'extremely kind, extremely gentle and the most humble young person that I ever knew'.
At a press conference today Mr Qureshi was close to tears as he said Emwazi, who is linked to a string of executions of ISIS prisoners, 'was such a beautiful man'.
Defence: Asim Qureshi, research director at the rights group CAGE, described Mohammed Emwazi, who is believed to be Jihadi John, as 'extremely kind' and blamed MI5 for his radicalisation
Mr Qureshi said he was radicalised after the security services harassed him and alienated him because 'the man I knew would never hurt a single person.'
He said: 'When are we going to finally learn that when we treat people as if they're outsiders, they are going to feel like outsiders and they will look for belonging elsewhere.'
Mr Qureshi was asked if he had failed to report him to the authorities if had suspicions that Emwazi was Jihadi John, but he said he had no idea until approached by journalists.
The assertion that MI5 'alienated' Emwazi caused fury online, accusing CAGE of being apologists for 'barbarism'.
Bev Hateley said she was 'enraged and disgusted' by 'excuses' that 'Jihadi John was radicalised by MI5 harassment'.
Anthony Shaw wrote: 'So it's all the fault of MI5 that 'Jihadi John' takes great delight in cutting innocents' heads off.
Dean from Liverpool tweeted: 'How can MI5 in ANY way, even if they did harass him, create a man who cuts people heads off their shoulders'.
Another said: 'You don't go from innocent to executioner because your being harassed. Maybe MI5 had reason to suspect, and he's proved them right'.
Speaking at a press conference today, Mr Qureshi spoke of similarities between the case of Emwazi and that of Michael Adebolajo, who murdered soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.
He said: 'He (Emwazi) was such a beautiful young man, really. It's hard to imagine the trajectory, but it is not a trajectory that's unfamiliar with us.
'We've seen Michael Adebolajo, once again somebody that I have met. He came to me for help, looking to change his situation.
He said the country's national security policy has 'only increased alienation' since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Mr Qureshi said: 'A narrative of injustice has taken root. A narrative of impunity that there is no accountability for the way in which our security agencies operate. Unless we arrest that narrative, we are just going to see these things happening over and over again.
'People will feel like they are pushed out, and that they don't have a place to belong. And when somebody is giving them a message 'Come, we will give you a sense of belonging', how can argue against that?'
How did he slip through the net? Police and security services spoke to Jihadi John three times in one year and put him on a terror watch list before he fled to join ISIS
MI5 repeatedly tried to recruit Mohammed Emwazi as an informant and put him on a terror watchlist to stop him leaving Britain but he still managed to flee the country for Syria, it was claimed today.
Emwazi is believed to have become known to the security services in 2009 when he was accused of trying to fight with Somali terror group Al-Shabaab in east Africa.
The British citizen, who was born in Kuwait and moved to the UK aged six, flew to Tanzania with two friends after he graduated from the University of Westminster claiming he was going on safari.
But he was arrested as soon as he touched down in capital Dar es Salaam and deported by Tanzanian's officials.
He flew back to Britain via Amsterdam and told a friend MI5 were waiting for him at Schiphol Airport and tried to recruit him to share information on extremists, Emwazi told a confidant.
Asim Qureshi, research director at the rights group Cage told the Washington Post: 'Mohammed was quite incensed by his treatment, that he had been very unfairly treated'.
Emwazi claimed in emails that he was repeatedly approached by the security services over the course of the following year but he said he refused to co-operate and denied he had any links to terrorism.
Hostages who have survived being held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq have said that Jihadi John is a man 'obsessed' with Somalia and would make them watch Al-Shabaab videos while in captivity.
In June 2010 counter-terrorism officers, linked to the security services and Scotland Yard, allegedly arrested him as he tried to fly to Kuwait. He was fingerprinted and searched, it was said, and put on a terror watchlist preventing him from leaving Britain.
In an email to Mr Qureshi he said: 'I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London. A person imprisoned & controlled by security service men, stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace & country, Kuwait'.
Another friend said: 'He was upset and wanted to start a life elsewhere. He at some stage reached the point where he was really just trying to find another way to get out.'
Another friend said that Emwazi later tried to travel to Saudi Arabia to teach English in 2012 but again stopped from leaving.
He was 'desperate' to leave Britain and 'was ready to exhaust every single kind of avenue within the machinery of the state to bring a change for his personal situation', Mr Qureshi said.
Mr Qureshi said he last heard from him that year and said the Jihadi John supect believed 'actions were taken to criminalize him and he had no way to do something against these actions'.
Soon afterwards he vanished and is believed to have travelled to Syria, where he may now be ISIS' figurehead.
If Emwazi's account of his contact with MI5 is accurate, his case has drawn parallels with that of Lee Rigby's murderer Michael Adebolajo, who was jailed for life in 2013.
His trial heard that just three months before the appalling murder in Woolwich, MI5 was trying to recruit Michael Adebolajo as an informant.
He had been on their radar for ten years and in 2010 was even arrested with fellow Al Qaeda followers in Kenya.
Adebolajo complained of being 'harassed' by MI5 agents before the killing and it later it emerged that they had failed to watch him carefully enough before he murdered Drummer Rigby with the help of his friend Michael Adebowale.
West London radical at centre of network that influenced 'Jihadi John' passed freely between UK and African terror hot spots for THREE YEARS
The man at the centre of a network that influenced the ISIS executioner identified as 'Jihadi John' was allowed to fly in and out of London to terrorism hot spots unchecked for almost three years.
Bilal al-Berjawi passed through UK Border Control at least five times between 2006 and 2009 as he travelled between London and African terror cells.
Over that period he was rising to prominence as a senior member of Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-linked group in Somalia - returning to the UK only to raise funds and to marry.
Bilal al-Berjawi (right) travelled freely between the UK and terror hubs in East Africa as he rose to prominence with al-Qaeda. He is believed to have radicalised Jihadi John (left) on his return visits to London
It is believed that it was during these return visits to London that Al Berjawi became the driving force behind the radicalisation of 26-year-old Mohammed Emwazi, using his growing stature within the terror group to radicalise homegrown extremists.
According to people who have moved in jihadi circles in west London, Emwazi began to be noticed 'five or six years ago', when al-Berjawi was still flying between the UK and Africa.
'That's when he emerged, so to speak,' said one.
Bilal al-Berjawi (above) was killed in Somalia in 2012
Bilal al-Berjawi was killed by a drone strike in Somalia three years ago. By that point he was a key figure in al-Qaeda's East African operations.
Originally from Lebanon, Berjawi first joined militants in Somalia in 2006 and then returned to Britain in 2007 on a fundraising venture.
He left again in February 2009 with his friend Mohammed Sakr, who is of Egyptian origin, to travel to Kenya, telling their families they were going on a safari - the same front used by Emwazi when he flew to Tanzania in 2009.
They aroused the suspicions of the manager of the hotel at which they were staying in Mombasa and when they moved to Nairobi, police raided the premises and they were deported.
A laptop found at the premises contained extremist material including encouragement of jihad and instructions on making car bombs.
Berjawi married a Somali woman in London, and in October 2009, they decided to slip out of the country again, without telling their families that they were leaving.
All three were the subject of a manhunt, accused of crossing into Uganda to plot terrorist attacks that culminated in bomb attacks in Kampala in July 2011 that killed 74 people.
Berjawi was said to be a senior figure with Al Qaeda in East Africa, a radical part of the Al Shabaab movement, and was known as one of its most active fighters.
He was also responsible for securing weapons and for overseeing the contingent of foreign fighters.
In an online obituary published in 2013, Al Shabaab said 'Abu Hafs' had been trained by two top military commanders of al-Qaeda in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.
The government stripped both men of their British passports and they were killed in separate drone attacks in 2012.
Jihadi John's old university was a 'hotbed of radicalism where students celebrated 9/11', claims ex-pupil - and extremist was even due to speak there TONIGHT
Extremist: Haitham al-Haddad's speech has been posponed
Jihadi John's former university was a 'hotbed of radicalism' where students 'celebrated 9/11', it has been claimed.
A former student two years older than the Islamic State executioner has lifted the lid on his time at the university - as it's also revealed a talk by a Muslim extremist has been postponed due to 'security concerns'.
Haitham al-Haddad was set to speak tonight, but the event will not go ahead as planned after it was revealed 'Jihadi John' studied computer programming at the university.
Today, the terrorist was named as a university graduate from London who was able to flee to Syria despite being on an MI5 terror watch list.
Emwazi is said to have travelled to the Middle East three years ago and later joined ISIS.
Jihadi John has featured in the execution videos of British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Japanese reporter Kenji Goto and Syrian soldiers.
Former University of Westminster pupil Raheem Kassam, who campaigns against extremism at British universities, said the conditions at the university are right for the radicalisation of someone like Emwazi.
Speaking today, he said: 'I once walked into a meeting of the Islamic Society where they were clapping and cheering the events of 9/11.
'I did not know him, he would have been two years behind me, but I am utterly unsurprised. The university was nothing less than a hotbed of radicalism when I was there.
'Universities across the country, the University of Westminster in particular, are being targeted by radical recruiters.'
A University of Westminster spokesman said: 'We take these allegations very seriously. We condemn any behaviour that promotes terrorism and violence on any of our campuses.
'We have strict policies to promote tolerance among our 20,000 student community, who come to study from over 150 nations. Any student found to be engaging in radicalised activity would be referred to disciplinary procedures.
'As a London-based university operating in a diverse multi-cultural city, we are fully aware of all the influences within this international city. With other universities in London, we are working together to implement the Government's Prevent strategy to tackle extremism.'
How Jihadi John came to Britain aged 6 from Kuwait, attended school and university and went on to become one of the world's most wanted terrorists
A lobby group has released an extensive report on its contact with Mohammed Emwazi - the man reports have named as Islamic State militant Jihadi John.
Cage, which deals with people who believe they have been mistreated at the hands of British authorities in anti-terror operations, claims it first came into contact with Emwazi in 2009 after he was contacted by MI5 on a safari holiday to Tanzania.
The group claim Emwazi's family was told he had travelled to Syria in 2013. Here is a timeline of events in Emwazi's life as reported by Cage:
- 1988 - Emwazi is born in Kuwait and moves to the UK at the age of six.
- 2009 - He completes a degree in computing from the University of Westminster. He arranges to marry a woman in Kuwait.
- August 2009 - Emwazi travels to Tanzania with two friends for a Safari holiday. Upon arrival, all three are stopped at the airport in Dar-es-Salaam by border officials and refused entry. The men spend the night in a police station near to the airport in Dar-es-Salaam.
- They are put on a plane to Schipol, Amsterdam, where they are questioned by a number of men, reportedly including an MI5 officer, who accuse him of attempting to travel to Somalia. Emwazi claims MI5 then tried to recruit him.
- The men are released and allowed to return to Dover, where they are questioned again by anti-terror officers.
- Emwazi claims the police spoke to his fiancee in Kuwait, ultimately leading her to call off the arranged marriage.
- September 2009 - Emwazi leaves the UK to stay in Kuwait with his father's family.
- May 2010 - After eight months working in Kuwait, Emwazi returns to the UK for an eight-day visit. He is stopped in Heathrow but allowed to continue. He returns to Kuwait eight days later in early June.
- July 2010 - After spending a couple more months in Kuwait and making plans to marry a different woman, Emwazi decides to return home once more for a couple of days.
- He is stopped in Heathrow airport from returning to Kuwait and questioned for six hours.
- The following day he attempts to return to Kuwait but is told he cannot travel further than Dubai as his visa has been refused.
- 2012 - Emwazi passes a SELTA, teaching English language course with two other friends.
- He applies to English language centres in Saudi Arabia and is rejected.
- 2013 - He changes his name to Mohammed al-Ayan.
- He attempts to travel to Kuwait one last time but is prevented and questioned.
- Three days after he is prevented from travelling to Kuwait, Emwazi leaves his parents' home to travel abroad.
- After a further three days, his parents report him as a missing person.
- Four months later, police arrive at the family home to explain they have information he has entered Syria.
No comments:
Post a Comment