‘Extremely kind’ Jihadi John was harassed by MI5
Asim Qureshi, a director with British advocacy group Cage — which claims Emwazi was interrogated by MI5 and subjected to security agency harassment — said: “You might be surprised to know that the Mohammed that I knew was extremely kind, extremely gentle, extremely soft spoken, was the most humble young person that I knew.”
According to the Washington Post, the IS militant has been named by friends and others familiar with the case as Mohammed Emwazi.
British radicalisation experts said they believed the identity to be “accurate and correct”.
He grew up in west London and was known as a polite, mild-mannered young man. He graduated in 2009 in information technology.
The 26-year-old man nicknamed ‘Jihadi John’ rose to notoriety after he first appeared in a video posted online last August, in which he appeared to kill the American journalist James Foley.
A statement from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London said: ”We believe the identity and name published by the Washington Post and now in the public realm to be accurate and correct.”
Qureshi is quoted in the Washington Post article as being in contact with Emwazi before he left for Syria.
It is reported Mr Qureshi believed Emwazi was Jihadi John, but in a press conference yesterday he said he “can’t be 100% certain”.
He said emails exchanged with Emwazi will be released, and he said what people will see in the emails is “somebody who, despite going through great difficulties in his personal life... He belittled that difficulty”.
Qureshi said Emwazi would turn up at Cage’s offices with “posh baklava” as way of saying thanks.
“This is the kind of person that we’re talking about,” he said. “So this is why when I’m asked is the person that you see in those videos the same as the person you remember, Mohammed Emwazi, it’s difficult for me to say that yes, these two people are exactly the same.”
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: “[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.
“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.”
He said Britain’s national security policy has “only increased alienation” since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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?”
Downing Street refused to comment on the claims about Emwazi’s contacts with the security services.
“Our long-standing position on Jihadi John’s identity is that we are neither confirming nor denying,” a spokeswoman said.
