Jihadi John

Mohammed Emwazi, a British militant born in Kuwait, became notorious as the masked executioner in Islamic State propaganda videos. He was one of four English-speaking captors whom hostages nicknamed "John," after John Lennon, referring to the group as "The Beatles" due to their accents; journalists later coined the term "Jihadi John." Emwazi was born in Kuwait in 1988 to a stateless Bidoon family of Iraqi origin, living in a marginalized area before moving to London at age six. He attended a Church of England primary school and a state secondary school, where he experienced bullying, then studied Information Systems with Business Management at the University of Westminster, earning a lower second-class degree.

After graduation, he worked as an IT salesman in Kuwait, where his employer considered him an outstanding employee. Despite being a British citizen, the Home Secretary later revoked his citizenship after he fled to Somalia. MI5 had monitored him years before his execution videos surfaced, initially suspecting links to Al-Shabaab, and repeatedly prevented him from traveling to Kuwait. This case drew criticism from a former shadow home secretary, who argued that intelligence services had allowed individuals to slip through.

Emwazi appeared in videos beheading several captives, including American and British journalists and aid workers, as well as Syrian soldiers. In one video, he stood over a severed head identified as an American aid worker, and the footage also showed the mass execution of captive soldiers. He was reportedly killed by a US drone strike in Raqqa, Syria, in November 2015, with Islamic State confirming his death the following January.