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19 March 2024

Hunt for 'Jihadi John': Relatives under watch

Published
By AFP

Latest: Kuwaiti authorities are closely monitoring several relatives of 'Jihadi John' who live and work in the Gulf emirate where the Daesh executioner was born, press reports said.

A number of relatives of Mohammed Emwazi, named as the militant who has beheaded at least five Western hostages, are working in Kuwait and like him hold British citizenship, 'Al Qabas' newspaper reported.

"Security agencies have taken the necessary measures to monitor them round the clock," the paper said, citing an "informed source."

The daily did not say how many of Emwazi's relatives are in Kuwait. Authorities have remained silent on the issue.

'Al Rai' newspaper cited security sources as saying that Emwazi's father, Jassem Abdulkareem, also a British national, is currently in Kuwait and is expected to be summoned by authorities.

Emwazi visited Kuwait several times, the last of them between January 18 and April 26, 2010, Al Qabas said.

A year later, he was denied entry to Kuwait after his name came up during investigations into attacks in Britain, the newspaper said.

Emwazi was born in Kuwait but moved to London in the early 1990s when he was a child and attended school and university in the British capital.

The Daily Telegraph reported that he went to school with two other boys who went on to become militants - Choukri Ellekhlifi, who was killed fighting in Syria, and Mohammed Sakr, killed fighting in Somalia.

It was also reported that Emwazi had contacts with the men responsible for failed attacks on London's public transport system in 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings killed 52 people in the British capital.

The revelations add to the pressure on the security and intelligence agencies to explain why they did not act on their suspicions about Emwazi before he travelled to Syria.

US Target

US forces are targeting the London man believed to be 'Jihadi John', a Daesh executioner, a senior Democratic senator said Sunday.

London graduate Mohammed Emwazi was unmasked by media this week as allegedly the English-speaking executioner responsible for the beheading of at least five Western hostages held by the Daesh group in Syria and Iraq.

Asked whether the US was "going after" Emwazi specifically, Feinstein responded affirmatively.

"Oh, yes. He's a target. There should be no question about that," the former Senate Intelligence Committee chair told CBS television's "Face the Nation."

The Kuwait-born computer expert, believed to be 26 or 27 years old, appeared for the first time in a video during the execution of American journalist James Foley in 2014.

He presided over numerous killings, and delivered English messages in execution videos.

Feinstein added that Emwazi's story of Western disaffection spoke to a "major problem" confronted by Western nations.

"What it tells us is that there are many young people, and you can see this by the number of tweets on Twitter, who are so disaffected," she said.

"Whether they feel rejected socially, whether they feel they don't have an opportunity, I don't know."

Earlier:

The London man believed to be a Daesh executioner 'Jihadi John' told a journalist four years ago that surveillance by British security services had left him contemplating suicide, it emerged Saturday.

Mohammed Emwazi, named by media and experts as the militant thought to have beheaded at least five Western hostages held by the Daesh group, told the Mail on Sunday reporter that he felt like a "dead man walking".

A British civil rights group that was in contact with Emwazi, Cage, claims that domestic spy agency MI5 had been tracking him since at least 2009, and blamed his radicalisation on their "harassment".

Prime Minister David Cameron and a former head of foreign spy agency MI6 strongly rejected the idea, while London mayor Boris Johnson accused Cage of an "apology for terror".

In an email to Mail on Sunday reporter Robert Verkaik, dated December 14, 2010, Emwazi described how he sold his laptop to someone he met online who he subsequently came to believe was with the security services.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a dead man walking, not fearing they may kill me. Rather, fearing that one day, I'll take as many pills as I can that I can sleep forever!! I just want to get away from these people!!!" Emwazi wrote.

Emwazi was born in Kuwait but moved to London when he was a child and attended school and university in the capital.

The Daily Telegraph reported this weekend that he went to high school with two other boys who went onto become militants - Choukri Ellekhlifi, who was killed fighting in Syria, and Mohammed Sakr, killed fighting in Somalia.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said Saturday that it had launched a review into how Quintin Kynaston school in north London dealt with radicalisation "to see if there are any lessons we can learn".

It was also reported that Emwazi had contacts with the men responsible for failed attacks on London's public transport system in 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings killed 52 people in the capital.

All the revelations add to pressure on the security and intelligence agencies to explain why they did not act on their suspicions about Emwazi before he travelled to Syria.

Cameron on Friday defended their actions, saying they have to make "incredibly difficult judgements, and I think basically they make very good judgements".