Criminals & Outlaws Codexery

Jihadi John

British militant seen in Islamic State beheading videos.

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Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John," was a British militant of Kuwaiti origin who appeared in Islamic State videos showing the beheadings of captives in 2014 and 2015.[1] He was killed by a US drone strike in Raqqa, Syria on 12 November 2015, and his death was confirmed by IS in January 2016.[2]

Key facts and history

The nickname "Jihadi John" was first used in the conservative magazine The Spectator on 20 August 2014.[3] On 17 August 1988 in Kuwait, Mohammed Emwazi was born as the first of five children to parents Jassem and Ghaneyah Emwazi.[4] His former boss in Kuwait stated that Emwazi was the finest employee the company had ever had.[5] Captives gave him the nickname "John" because he belonged to a four-member terrorist group with English accents that they referred to as "The Beatles".[1]

What the cited sources add

A Tanzanian police officer told the BBC that Emwazi was deported from Tanzania for being drunk and abusive in 2009.[6] A custody record dated 23 May 2009 shows Emwazi and two friends were detained after refusing to return to Amsterdam.[6] Tanzanian authorities denied they received a tip-off from MI5 about Emwazi's travel plans.[6] The Guardian reported that Emwazi was known as "Little Mo" because of his small stature during his school years.[7]

A former classmate told the Sunday Mirror that Emwazi angered his Muslim parents by dressing like the "cool kids".[7] According to Cage, Emwazi was planning to return to Kuwait to marry but was prevented from travelling and interrogated at Heathrow.[7] Kuwaiti authorities took Emwazi's immediate family—his father Jassem, mother Ghaneyah, and eldest brother Omar—in for routine questioning.[5]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Jihadi John" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Usborne, "'Jihadi John': Why do we give notorious criminals nicknames?", The Independent, 2 March 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Jihadi John" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Phipps, "'Jihadi John': high degree of certainty US airstrike killed Mohammed Emwazi, sources say", The Guardian, 13 November 2015; Ford, "ISIS confirms death of 'Jihadi John'", CNN, 20 January 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Jihadi John" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Usborne, "'Jihadi John': Why do we give notorious criminals nicknames?", The Independent, 2 March 2015; Murray, "Jihadi John – a very British export", The Spectator, 20 August 2014; McFarlane, "'Jihadi John', fears for Gazza and GCSE 'ghost of Gove' in headlines", BBC News, 22 August 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Jihadi John" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O'Neill, "Spies were so much on Emwazi's case they bought his computer", The Australian, 3 March 2015; "First Photo of 'Jihadi John' As Adult Revealed", Sky News; Malnick, "Mohammed Emwazi timeline: from school years with Tulisa Contostavlos to becoming Jihadi John", The Telegraph, 26 February 2015, p. 2}}{{cbignore; Chulov, "'The best employee we ever had': Mohammed Emwazi's former boss in Kuwait", The Guardian, 2 March 2015; Chulov, "'The best employee we ever had': Mohammed Emwazi's former boss in Kuwait", The Guardian, 2 March 2015; Al- en.wikipedia.org
  5. Chulov, "'The best employee we ever had': Mohammed Emwazi's former boss in Kuwait", The Guardian, 2 March 2015. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  6. "Mohammed Emwazi: Tanzanian officer recalls airport arrest", BBC News, 8 March 2015. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
  7. Topping, "Who is Mohammed Emwazi? From 'lovely boy' to Islamic State killer", The Guardian, 2 March 2015. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jihadi John (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year was Jihadi John born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1988.

From the source: “Mohammed Emwazi (born Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri; ), commonly referred to as Jihadi John (17 August 1988 – 12 November 2015), was a British militant of Kuwaiti origin seen in several videos produced by the Islamist extremi”

2. In which place was Jihadi John born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Al Jahra, Kuwait.

3. In what year did Jihadi John die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 2015.

From the source: “In January 2015, a threat was issued that they would be killed unless the Japanese government paid a ransom of .”

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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