British Prime Minister David Cameron defended the country’s security services after reports that a masked member of the Islamic State group known as “Jihadi John” had been on the UK’s terror watchlist for years.
Mohammed Emwazi - the black-clad militant brandishing a knife and speaking with an English accent in several videos released by IS - was known to the security services for years, according to prisoners’ group Cage.
The case has sparked debate about whether the security services let him slip through their grasp to join the IS group in Syria, France24 reported.
However, Cameron refused to comment on the identification of the 26-year-old insurgent and said that people should get behind the security services, which he praised as “impressive.”
Emwazi’s name was first disclosed by the Washington Post. Two US government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said investigators believed Jihadi John was Emwazi.
The Sun and The Daily Mail newspapers published a picture showing a schoolboy Emwazi sitting across the St. Mary Magdalene Church of England primary school in Maida Vale, West London.
A picture of him as a student was later broadcast by Sky News, showing a young man with a moustache, wearing a cap with a logo resembling a US Major League Baseball team.
