LONDON - Britons who have joined the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq should be hunted down and killed, Britain’s new defence minister said.
Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson leaves 10 Downing Street, London, December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Gavin Williamson said that Britons who had gone to Syria or Iraq to fight for Islamic State hated what Britain stands for, and that air strikes could be used against the estimated 270 British citizens who are still out there.
“Quite simply my view is a dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain,” Williamson told the Daily Mail in an interview published late on Wednesday.
“We should do everything we can do to destroy and eliminate that threat,” he said, adding that he believed any British fighters who joined Islamic State should never be allowed to return to the United Kingdom.
Williamson, 41, has been defence minister for little over a month, replacing Michael Fallon after he quit in a sexual harassment scandal.
Prominent British militants such as Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, and Sally Jones, have been reportedly killed by British or U.S. forces since travelling to fight for Islamic State.
After the death of Jones, who was known as the “White Widow”, Fallon said that British nationals who chose to leave the UK and fight for Islamic State were a “legitimate target”.
Image caption "Jihadi John" - whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi - regularly featured in IS propaganda
The Islamic State group's propaganda magazine has confirmed the British militant known as Jihadi John died in a drone strike in November.
The group published an obituary for the jihadist, whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi, in its online magazine Dabiq.
In November the US military said it was "reasonably certain" it had killed him in the IS-stronghold of Raqqa.
Emwazi appeared in beheading videos of victims including UK aid worker David Haines and taxi driver Alan Henning. Who was Mohammed Emwazi?
In the eulogy, Kuwaiti-born Emwazi is referred to as Abu Muharib al-Muhajir, his nickname in the group and the details of his death confirm the US version of events.
The jihadist group said Emwazi was killed on 12 November "as the car he was in was targeted in a strike by an unmanned drone in the city of Raqqa, destroying the car and killing him instantly".
A smiling picture of the militant, who appears unmasked looking towards the ground, accompanies the text, which is written in tribute form to a man they describe as an "honourable brother". Image caption Clockwise from top left: Abdul-Rahman Kassig, Steven Sotloff, James Foley, Kenji Goto, David Haines, Alan Henning Emwazi first emerged in August 2014 when he appeared masked in a video in which US journalist James Foley was apparently murdered.
Dubbed "Jihadi John" by the media, he was identified as Emwazi, a computer programming graduate who grew up in London, in February 2015.
He also appeared in videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, Mr Haines, Mr Henning, as well as American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
He became a top target for US and British intelligence agencies, even though he is thought to have played no military role within IS.
At the time of his reported death in November, Prime Minister David Cameron said targeting Emwazi had been "the right thing to do".
He said the UK had been working with its US allies "literally around the clock" to track Emwazi down.
Three drones - one British and two American - were involved in the strike. One of the American drones hit the car, and it is believed there was one other person in the vehicle. Mohammed Emwazi
1988: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994 aged six
Educated at the Quintin Kynaston Community Academy in St John's Wood, north London
Fluent in Arabic and English and a British citizen
2009: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster, travels to Tanzania, Amsterdam and Kuwait
2013: Tries to travel to Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group
Civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, and now President Bashar al-Assad's government, IS, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all hold territory. Millions have been displaced and more than 250,000 people killed as a result of the fighting.
More than 750 people from the UK are thought to have travelled to support or fight for jihadist organisations in Syria and Iraq, and approximately half of those have returned, Home Secretary Theresa May said in November.
Mohammed Emwazi, the man otherwise
known as "Jihadi John", wanted to carry out "acts of terrorism" in
Tanzania, one of its top officials believes.
Emwazi was refused entry to Tanzania in 2009 for being drunk and abusive, custody records from the time show.
He has claimed he was on holiday with two friends when they were stopped and interrogated under orders from MI5.
Tanzania's home affairs minister Mathias Chikawe said there was no tip-off, but Emwazi "wanted to harm us".
Emwazi,
who is in his mid-20s and from west London, has been identified as the
masked jihadist in several Islamic State videos in which hostages have
been beheaded.
He has said he was a student looking forward to a safari holiday when
he flew to Tanzania's Dar es Salaam airport, from The Netherlands, six
years ago.
He said that when he arrived, he was stopped, arrested
and accused of wanting to joining the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror
network al-Shabaab.
But speaking to the BBC's East Africa
correspondent Ed Thomas, Mr Chikawe said there was no contact from any
intelligence agency relating to Emwazi, and the men were only stopped
because of their behaviour.
"We had no information whatsoever from any organisation or anybody for that matter," he said.
"They were in a state of inebriation - highly drunk. And they were cursing and saying all the bad words you can think of.
"So
the immigration officers detained them and asked them questions,
saying, 'Why do you behave like this? Who are you? Why are you coming
here?'."
Looking for CCTV
In
emails written to campaigners at advocacy group Cage, Emwazi said he
had been threatened at gunpoint and was later told to ask the British
government why he had been stopped.
"He was actually detained by a lady, a young lady. She could not
interrogate, she could not threaten the three of them," he said.
"It's not true, we just asked them questions.
"If he is saying anything other than what I'm telling you, then he is (lying)," he added.
He
said there was a "very close" relationship between Britain and Tanzania
because of historical ties. He has asked the Tanzanian authorities to
investigate Emwazi's time in Tanzania.
"I've asked them to look for the CCTV footage if there is any, just to see exactly what happened," he said.
"Because for us at that time he was just like any other visitor trying to enter Tanzania, he wasn't special."
He said he believed their intent had been to cause harm.
"They must have wanted to do some terrorist acts. I think maybe they wanted to harm us, definitely," he said.
"We
have been hit terrorists. The American embassy was blown up. We feel we
are targets, and we don't want to be victims. We shall always defend
ourselves."
A custody record dated 23 May 2009, and written in
Kiswahili, requests that Emwazi and two friends "be detained after they
refused to return back to Amsterdam using KLM 569 after being refused
entry to the country".
The document names Emwazi, Ally Adorus and Marcel Schrodel.
Adorus, a British citizen, is now a convicted terrorist serving a prison sentence in Ethiopia.
Schrodel is said to have been known to German security services. Mohammed Emwazi timeline:
1988: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994
2009: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster
Aug 2009: Travels to Tanzania with two friends for
safari but refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Put on flight to Amsterdam.
After questioning there, returns to Dover
Sept 2009: Travels to Kuwait to stay with father's family
July 2010: Returns to UK for short stay but told he cannot return to Kuwait as visa denied
2012: Passes Celta English language teaching course
2013: Changes name by deed poll. Tries to travel to
Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police
tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Mohammed Emwazi, the man who went on
to become "Jihadi John", was deported from Tanzania for being drunk and
abusive, a police officer has told the BBC.
Emwazi has claimed he was threatened and interrogated under direct orders from MI5 when he went there in 2009.
But the BBC has been shown a custody record from the time of his arrest.
The
officer said Emwazi had not been allowed into Tanzania because he had
"brought chaos to the airport" and "behaved like alcohol was involved".
'Left to sober up'
Emwazi,
who is in his mid-20s and from west London, has been identified as the
masked jihadist in several Islamic State videos in which hostages have
been beheaded.
Emwazi has said he was a student looking forward to
a safari holiday when he flew to the East African country's Dar es
Salaam airport, from the Netherlands, six years ago.
But he said
that when he arrived, he was stopped, arrested and accused of wanting to
joining the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terror network al-Shabaab.
However, one of the police officers who arrested him has told the BBC's East Africa correspondent Ed Thomas a different story.
The officer, who wanted his identity protected, said: "He brought chaos to the airport, he was rough and noisy.
"He caused a commotion. He behaved like alcohol was involved. We couldn't let him in."
The officer said Emwazi had been taken to the airport's cells and left to sober up.
A
custody record dated 23 May 2009, and written in Kiswahili, requests
that Emwazi and two friends "be detained after they refused to return
back to Amsterdam using KLM 569 after being refused entry to the
country".
'You are nothing'
The document names Emwazi, Ally Adorus and Marcel Schrodel.
Adorus, a British citizen, is now a convicted terrorist serving a prison sentence in Ethiopia.
Schrodel is said to have been known to German security services.
Tanzanian authorities deny they received a tip-off from MI5 or any country that Emwazi was planning to travel there in 2009.
Immigration commissioner Abdullah Khamis Abdullah said Emwazi had
been drunk and fellow passengers on his flight had complained about his
behaviour.
At the airport, Emwazi had "tried to force his way in".
He added: "He said 'Give me the permit to the country... you are nothing here, you're just rubbish'."
Mr Abdullah said: "We didn't get any order or whatever from any country or any organisation to stop Emwazi."
'Not tortured'
This
account of events is in contrast to emails written by Emwazi after his
arrest, angry at what he claims was abuse he suffered.
In emails written to campaigners at advocacy group Cage, he said the trip had transformed his life.
He
wrote: "My life changed completely when I went on holiday after
graduation at the age of 20 to Tanzania. I had been abused by Tanzanian
authorities."
Emwazi said he had been threatened at gunpoint and was later told to ask the British government why he had been stopped.
Emwazi said this had left him "in shock".
However, the officer who arrested him insisted Emwazi's account was not true.
"Immigration cases are given special treatment. They are not touched, they are not harmed. Emwazi was not tortured."
The man named as extremist "Jihadi
John" received anger management therapy in his first year of secondary
school after getting into fights, a former teacher has said.
Mohammed
Emwazi, who has been seen in beheading videos of Western hostages,
attended Quintin Kynaston school in St John's Wood, London, a decade
ago.
The teacher said he needed help controlling his emotions.
But he was regarded as a "success story" after the therapy, she added.
Emwazi,
a Kuwaiti-born British man, who is in his mid-20s and from west London,
was identified as the person dubbed "Jihadi John" earlier this week.
Security services have been criticised for being aware of Emwazi but not preventing him from joining Islamic State.
Speaking to BBC Two's Newsnight, the teacher, who was not identified,
said the former pupil had been a "lovely, lovely boy" who had a "real
willingness to try and succeed".
"We'd find that he'd get very
angry and worked up and it would take him a long time to calm himself
down, so we did a lot of work as a school to help him with his anger and
to control his emotions," the teacher said.
"It seemed to work. He had a lot of respect for all of the work that had been done for him at our school.
'Huge achievement'
She said he did not come from a troubled background, left school with qualifications and had "every chance of doing well".
"I just can't believe he'd do that," she said, adding that he had achieved everything he wanted to do at school.
"He
went to a university of his choice, and from the way he started in year
seven to how he blossomed until he left at the end of sixth form was a
huge achievement for him."
The teacher also said MI5 had interviewed his former teachers from the school.
A
statement from Quintin Kynaston school said it was "shocked and
sickened" that its former pupil may be involved with Islamic State.
It
added: "All members of staff at QK work very hard to support the
education and well-being of our students and protect them from harm.
"In
this respect, QK has been extremely proactive in working with the
government's Prevent strategy for a period of time and will continue to
be so for the foreseeable future."
'Apology for terror'
UK-based advocacy group Cage has suggested that MI5 may have contributed to the radicalisation of Emwazi.
Downing
Street said that suggestion was "completely reprehensible", while
London mayor Boris Johnson described Cage's comments as "an apology for
terror".
Mr Cameron has defended the UK's security services, praising the work of "these extraordinary men and women".
He went on to say the security services' "dedication and work has saved
us from plots on the streets of the UK that could have done us immense
damage" within the last few months.
Mohammed Emwazi's movements before heading to Syria
1. Aug 2009, refused entry to Tanzania: travels to
Tanzania with two friends, but is refused entry at Dar es Salaam.
Tanzanian police have denied Emwazi's name is on their database of
suspected foreign criminals detained and deported in 2009, as he had
claimed. Emwazi and his friends are put on flight to Amsterdam, where
they are questioned. They return to Dover and are questioned again.
2. Sept 2009, travels to Kuwait for work: leaves the UK for Kuwait for work.
3. May/June 2010, returns to UK for holiday: he returns to the UK for an eight-day visit.
4. July 2010, refused re-entry to Kuwait: Emwazi
returns to the UK once more for a couple of days. He is stopped at
Heathrow on his return to Kuwait and told he cannot travel as his visa
has expired.
5. 2013, travels to Syria: Emwazi changes his name to
Mohammed al-Ayan and attempts to travel to Kuwait but is stopped and
questioned. Three days later, he heads abroad. Police later inform his
family he has travelled to Syria.
UK intelligence agencies have a flawed anti-terrorism strategy, former shadow home secretary David Davis has said.
The
Tory MP argued the case of Mohammed Emwazi - the Islamic State
extremist known as "Jihadi John" - showed relying on disrupting suspects
was ineffective.
Extremists like Emwazi - who was known to MI5
before going to Syria - had been left free to "carry out evil deeds", he
said, calling for more prosecutions.
But Home Secretary Theresa May said UK security services were "true heroes".
Writing in the Guardian,
Mr Davis said: "Given the numbers who appear to have 'slipped through
the net' it is legitimate to ask: how many more people must die before
we start to look more closely at the strategy of our intelligence
services?"
Kuwaiti-born Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s and from
west London, was this week identified as the person seen in beheading
videos of Western hostages.
Mr Davis wrote: "The problem is not new. The fact is that the
intelligence services have long utilised tactics that have proved
ineffective.
"One of the results of this policy is that it leaves
known terrorists both to carry out evil deeds, and to recruit more
conspirators.
"As a result, the problem on the street grows progressively larger."
Mr
Davis called for a similar approach to that of the US, where
authorities are legally obliged to pursue and convict those who endanger
the public.
However, Mrs May defended the UK's security and intelligence services.
"You
might not see the work they do. You might not know the risks they take.
You might not be told about the plots they stop," she told the
Conservative Party's Welsh conference.
"These remarkable men and women are true heroes. And they deserve the support and respect of every single one of us."
Control orders
Earlier,
former independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation Lord Carlile
said the government had been wrong in 2010 to abolish control orders
which placed terrorist suspects under close supervision.
He said it was likely Emwazi and his associates would have been subjected to control orders - had they still been in existence.
"Those control orders would have contained relocation conditions," he told the BBC.
"There is therefore a decent argument - if not a very strong argument
- that what Mohammed Emwazi has done would not have occurred had
control orders continued."
He said it was "unfair" to criticise
the British security services, adding that any suggestion Emwazi had
been radicalised by intelligence agencies was "an absurdity".
When
agencies approached people - as they were alleged to have done with
Emwazi before he left for Syria - they planned it "very carefully".
"They assess the people they are going to approach and there is always a reason," Lord Carlile said.
"Out
there in the security services are people whose names we don't know,
who are the unsung heroes, who have protected this country over many
years now," he added.
Prime Minister David Cameron has defended
the UK's security services, saying their "dedication and work has saved
us from plots on the streets of the UK that could have done us immense
damage" within the last few months.
Extremists like Mohammed Emwazi are
not becoming radicalised because of their contact with security
services, the ex-chief of MI6 Sir John Sawers has said.
He told the BBC such suggestions were "very false and very transparent".
Security
services have been criticised for being aware of Emwazi, known as
'Jihadi John', and not preventing him from joining Islamic State.
Sir John said security services faced 'more criticism' if someone they were not aware of committed an atrocity.
Emwazi,
who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western
hostages, was identified this week as a Kuwaiti-born British man, in his
mid-20s and from west London.
Speaking
to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir John said: "These people draw
attention to themselves because of their activity, their mixing,
participation in extremist and sometimes terrorist circles, so of course
they're going to draw attention to themselves."
He said an approach by security services to individuals they
suspected of becoming extremist was an opportunity for them "to draw
back from the terrorist groups" and acted as a warning.
"But the
idea that somehow being spoken to by a member of MI5 is a radicalising
act, I think this is very false and very transparent," he said.
MI5
is coming under pressure to explain why its officers spent five years
talking to Emwazi before he left the country for Syria.
'Thousands of concern'
Sir John, who served as head of MI6 for five years, defended the security services, saying they "do a really professional job".
"Of course they know many of these individuals, most of them who end up taking part in terrorist organisations," he said.
"They'd
be more subject to criticism if someone came and committed an atrocity
in this country or elsewhere who they had no knowledge of whatsoever."
He
said: "There are probably several thousand of these individuals of
concern and the numbers are rising as more people go to Syria and Iraq.
"And no-one is talking about rounding up all these people or keeping
100% coverage, there's just not the resources to do that and it would be
contrary to our principles of human rights to do that, so you have to
find a balance."
UK-based advocacy group Cage has suggested that MI5 may have contributed to the radicalisation of Emwazi.
Downing
Street said that suggestion was "completely reprehensible", while
London mayor Boris Johnson described Cage's comments as "an apology for
terror".
Mr Cameron has defended the UK's security services, praising the work of "these extraordinary men and women".
Mr
Cameron went on to say the security services' "dedication and work has
saved us from plots on the streets of the UK that could have done us
immense damage" within the last few months.
'Talk a good game'
Mr
Johnson said it did renew the argument about control orders - a form of
house arrest for terrorist suspects - which were abolished by the
coalition government in 2012 and replaced with Terrorism Prevention and
Investigation Measures (TPims).
"It is vital when you are
controlling these people to be able to relocate them, to take them away
from their support networks and to monitor them properly," he said.
David Anderson, the government's independent reviewer of terror
legislation, said it was difficult not to have sympathy with the
security services "when you see just how many cases they have to look
at".
"A lot of people talk a good game when it comes to terrorism.
The knack is identifying the few who are going to do something about
it."
1. Aug 2009, refused entry to Tanzania: travels to
Tanzania with two friends, but is refused entry at Dar es Salaam.
Tanzanian police have denied Emwazi's name is on their database of
suspected foreign criminals detained and deported in 2009, as he had
claimed. Emwazi and his friends are put on flight to Amsterdam, where
they are questioned. They return to Dover and are questioned again.
2. Sept 2009, travels to Kuwait for work: leaves the UK for Kuwait for work.
3. May/June 2010, returns to UK for holiday: he returns to the UK for an eight-day visit.
4. July 2010, refused re-entry to Kuwait: Emwazi
returns to the UK once more for a couple of days. He is stopped at
Heathrow on his return to Kuwait and told he cannot travel as his visa
has expired.
5. 2013, travels to Syria: Emwazi changes his name to
Mohammed al-Ayan and attempts to travel to Kuwait but is stopped and
questioned. Three days later, he heads abroad. Police later inform his
family he has travelled to Syria.
The widow of a man killed by a masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John" says she wants him caught alive.
Dragana
Haines says the "last thing" she wants for the man who killed her
husband, British aid worker David Haines, is an "honourable death".
The
militant, pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages,
has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from west
London.
British police have not commented on his identity, citing ongoing inquiries.
Emwazi,
who is in his mid-20s and was previously known to British security
services, first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently
killed the US journalist James Foley.
He
was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings
of Mr Haines, US journalist Steven Sotloff, British taxi driver Alan
Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as
Peter.
Mrs Haines told the BBC: "I hope he will be caught alive.
"That's
the only moral satisfaction for the families of all the people that he
murdered, because if he gets killed in the action, to put it that way,
it will be an honourable death for him and that is the last thing I
would actually want for someone like him.
"I think he needs to be put to justice, but not in that way."
Mr Haines' sister, Bethany, welcomed the identification, but told ITV
News: "I think all the families will feel closure and relief once
there's a bullet between his eyes."
A spokesman for the family of
Steven Sotloff said: "We want to sit in a courtroom, watch him sentenced
and see him sent to a super-max prison."
'The Beatles'
In
each of the videos, the militant appeared dressed in a black robe with a
black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.
Speaking
with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his
knife to the hostages' necks, appearing to start cutting before the film
stopped. The victims' decapitated bodies were then shown.
Earlier
this month, the militant featured in a video in which the Japanese
journalist Kenji Goto appeared to be beheaded. Hostages released by IS
said he was one of three British jihadists guarding Westerners abducted
by the group in Syria. They were known collectively as "the Beatles". Mohammed Emwazi timeline:
1988: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994
2009: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster
Aug 2009: Travels to Tanzania with two friends for
safari but refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Put on flight to Amsterdam.
After questioning there, returns to Dover
Sept 2009: Travels to Kuwait to stay with father's family
July 2010: Returns to UK for short stay but told he cannot return to Kuwait as visa denied
2012: Passes Celta English language teaching course
2013: Changes name by deed poll. Tries to travel to
Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police
tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group 'Jihadi John' movement mapped Emwazi "claimed harassment" In a news conference, Asim Qureshi, the research director of the
London-based lobby group Cage, which had been in contact with Emwazi
over a number of years, explained how he had been approached by the Washington Post for the story and detailed the difficulties Emwazi had had with security services in the UK and overseas.
Mr
Qureshi said Emwazi, who is understood to be about 27, had been
"extremely kind, gentle and soft-spoken, the most humble young person I
knew".
He added that Emwazi travelled to Tanzania in May 2009
following his graduation in computer programming at the University of
Westminster.
He and two friends had planned to go on a safari but
once they landed in Dar es Salaam they were detained by police and held
overnight. Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC News
US
and British counter-terrorism officials discovered the identity of
"Jihadi John" as far back as last September. The FBI, Britain's MI5 and
other intelligence agencies used a combination of voice recognition
software, interviews with former hostages and on-the-ground research in
London to build up a profile of the man now revealed to be Mohammed
Emwazi.
They have always declined to reveal the name for "operational
reasons". Now that it's out in the public domain, it's emerged that
Emwazi was well-known to MI5 and that it even tried to recruit him as an
informer, years before he went off to Syria to eventually join Islamic
State.
The practice by intelligence agencies of approaching
jihadist sympathisers to work for them is likely to continue. It's
believed both Britain and the US have informers inside the Islamic State
"capital" of Raqqa. Yet this seems to have been little help in stopping
the actions of Mohammed Emwazi, or bringing him to justice. Profile: Mohammed Emwazi Jihadist's 'typical trajectory' Emwazi
then ended up flying to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where he claimed
to be met by British intelligence agents from MI5 who accused him of
trying to travel to Somalia, where the jihadist group al-Shabab
operates. He denied the accusation and said the agents had tried to
recruit him before allowing him to return to the UK.
Emwazi was
believed to have travelled to Syria around 2013 and later joined IS,
which has declared the creation of a "caliphate" in the large swathes of
Syria and neighbouring Iraq it controls.
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron would not confirm or
deny the latest reports, adding that the police and security services
were working hard to find those responsible for the murder of the
British hostages. Jihadi John sightings
August 2014: Video in which US journalist James Foley is apparently beheaded
2 September 2014: Video in which US journalist Steve Sotloff is apparently beheaded
13 September 2014: Video in which British aid worker David Haines is apparently beheaded
October 2014: Video in which British aid worker Alan Henning is apparently beheaded
November 2014: Video in which Jihadi John is shown
killing a Syrian soldier in a mass beheading, which also shows body of
US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig
20 January 2015: Video in which Jihadi John is seen standing alongside two Japanese hostages and demanding a ransom in exchange for their release
31 January 2015: Video released appearing to show Jihadi John beheading Japanese hostage Kenji Goto
The masked Islamic State militant
known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the
beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.
He is Mohammed
Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man in his mid-20s from west London, who
was previously known to British security services.
British police declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations.
Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the US journalist James Foley.
He
was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings
of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines,
British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman
Kassig, also known as Peter.
'The Beatles'
In each of the
videos, the militant appeared dressed in a black robe with a black
balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.
Speaking
with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his
knife to the hostages' necks, appearing to start cutting before the film
stopped. The victims' decapitated bodies were then shown.
Earlier
this month, the militant featured in a video in which the Japanese
journalist Kenji Goto appeared to be beheaded. Hostages released by IS
said he was one of three British jihadists guarding Westerners abducted
by the group in Syria. They were known collectively as "the Beatles". Mohammed Emwazi timeline:
1988: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994
2009: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster
Aug 2009: Travels to Tanzania with two friends for
safari but refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Put on flight to Amsterdam.
After questioning there, returns to Dover
Sept 2009: Travels to Kuwait to stay with father's family
July 2010: Returns to UK for short stay but told he cannot return to Kuwait as visa denied
2012: Passes Celta English language teaching course
2013: Changes name by deed poll. Tries to travel to
Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police
tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group 'Jihadi John' movement mapped Emwazi "claimed harassment" In
a news conference, Asim Qureshi, the research director of the
London-based lobby group Cage, which had been in contact with Emwazi
over a number of years, explained how he had been approached by the Washington Post for the story and detailed the difficulties Emwazi had had with security services in the UK and overseas.
Mr
Qureshi said Emwazi, who is understood to be about 27, had been
"extremely kind, gentle and soft-spoken, the most humble young person I
knew".
He said he could "not be 100% certain" Jihadi John was Emwazi although there were "striking similarities".
Emwazi's difficulties began when he travelled to Tanzania in May 2009
following his graduation in computer programming at the University of
Westminster, Mr Qureshi added.
He and two friends had planned to
go on a safari but once they landed in Dar es Salaam they were detained
by police and held overnight.
Emwazi then ended up flying to
Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where he claimed to be met by British
intelligence agents from MI5 who accused him of trying to travel to
Somalia, where the jihadist group al-Shabab operates. He denied the
accusation and said the agents had tried to recruit him before allowing
him to return to the UK. Analysis: Frank Gardner, BBC News
US
and British counter-terrorism officials discovered the identity of
"Jihadi John" as far back as last September. The FBI, Britain's MI5 and
other intelligence agencies used a combination of voice recognition
software, interviews with former hostages and on-the-ground research in
London to build up a profile of the man now revealed to be Mohammed
Emwazi.
They have always declined to reveal the name for "operational
reasons". Now that it's out in the public domain, it's emerged that
Emwazi was well-known to MI5 and that it even tried to recruit him as an
informer, years before he went off to Syria to eventually join Islamic
State.
The practice by intelligence agencies of approaching
jihadist sympathisers to work for them is likely to continue. It's
believed both Britain and the US have informers inside the Islamic State
"capital" of Raqqa. Yet this seems to have been little help in stopping
the actions of Mohammed Emwazi, or bringing him to justice. Profile: Mohammed Emwazi Jihadist's 'typical trajectory' Emwazi
later moved to Kuwait, where he got a job at a computer company. But on
a visit to London in 2010, he was detained by British counter-terrorism
officials and prevented from flying back to Kuwait, his friends said.
"I had a job waiting for me and marriage to get started," Emwazi wrote in a June 2010 email to Cage.
"[But now] I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London," he
added, "a person imprisoned and controlled by security service men,
stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace and country,
Kuwait."
Mr Qureshi said Emwazi had made persistent efforts to try
to change his situation: "We had two-and-a-half years of communications
talking about what he could do to alleviate his problems."
He
said he did not know what had happened to Emwazi, adding: "When we treat
people as if they are outsiders they will inevitably feel like
outsiders - our entire national security strategy for the last 13 years
has only increased alienation. A narrative of injustice has taken root."
Emwazi was believed to have travelled to Syria around 2013 and later
joined IS, which has declared the creation of a "caliphate" in the large
swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq it controls.
A spokeswoman
for Prime Minister David Cameron would not confirm or deny the latest
reports, adding that the police and security services were working hard
to find those responsible for the murder of the British hostages.
The
University of Westminster confirmed Emwazi had left six years ago,
adding: "If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened."
The
BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington says the FBI went on record
last September to confirm it knew who Jihadi John was. However, US
officials said this month they would not name him as they believed this
would be the best strategy for finding him and bringing him to justice.
A spokesman for the family of Steven Sotloff said: "We want to sit in
a courtroom, watch him sentenced and see him sent to a super-max
prison."
David Haines's sister, Bethany, welcomed the
identification, but told ITV News: "I think all the families will feel
closure and relief once there's a bullet between his eyes." Jihadi John sightings
August 2014: Video in which US journalist James Foley is apparently beheaded
2 September 2014: Video in which US journalist Steve Sotloff is apparently beheaded
13 September 2014: Video in which British aid worker David Haines is apparently beheaded
October 2014: Video in which British aid worker Alan Henning is apparently beheaded
November 2014: Video in which Jihadi John is shown
killing a Syrian soldier in a mass beheading, which also shows body of
US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig
20 January 2015: Video in which Jihadi John is seen standing alongside two Japanese hostages and demanding a ransom in exchange for their release
31 January 2015: Video released appearing to show Jihadi John beheading Japanese hostage Kenji Goto
