IS group executioner 'Jihadi John' identified as Londoner
The black-clad militant apparently responsible for numerous beheadings was on Thursday named as a Kuwaiti-born Londoner by the Washington Post and the BBC, as well as by several experts and researchers.
The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, a leading research institute on jihadism and political violence, said it believed the identity "to be accurate and correct".
"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," it said in a statement.
CAGE, a London-based lobbying group which works with Muslims in conflict with British intelligence services, said its research director, Asim Qureshi, had also seen strong similarities, but due to the hood worn by the militant, “there was no way he could be 100 percent certain.”
Britain's Metropolitan Police would not confirm the reports. "We are not going to confirm the identity of anyone at this stage or give an update on the progress of this live counter-terrorism investigation," said Richard Walton from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.
British media had previously suggested "Jihadi John" could be a different British jihadist.
‘The Beatles’
The man, in his mid-20s, was identified to the Washington Post by friends and others familiar with the case.
The suspect is from a middle class family in London and earned a degree in computer programming before travelling to Syria around 2012, according to the report.
He apparently became radicalised after being detained by authorities following a flight to Tanzania and being accused by British intelligence officers of trying to make his way to Somalia.
Hostages released by IS said he was one of three jihadists known as “The Beatles” because of their British accents. Their job was to guard Western hostages.
"Jihadi John", named after Beatle John Lennon, is believed to be responsible for the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Allan Henning and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
He also appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.
Westerner beheading Westerners
FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr, an expert in jihadist movements, said the IS group had attracted far more media attention by fronting the militant with a British accent in its videos.
“An Arab beheading Westerners is something we’ve seen already. In contrast, it’s the first time that we see a Westerner beheading Westerners, multiplying the media impact by 1,000. A Briton who kills his fellow countrymen sets off a whole machinery of fear and attracts the focus of the British media,” he said.
“When the European audience hears a jihadist express himself in perfect English, they feel a lot more threatened because they feel that the war is where they are,” he said.
In the videos posted online, “Jihadi John” appears dressed all in black with only his eyes exposed, and wields a knife while launching tirades against the West, taunting leaders such as US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
British intelligence officers estimate that there are around 700 homegrown militants fighting for the IS group in Syria and Iraq.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)
