Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri (17 August 1988 – 12 November 2015), later known as Mohammed Emwazi, was a Kuwaiti-British militant jihadist who later became known as "Jihadi John" after carrying out a series of executions of Western hostages filmed and released on the internet during the Syrian Civil War. He became one of the images of the Islamic State, and his videos became a notorious internet sensation. On 12 November 2015 he was killed in an airstrike in al-Raqqa in a "clean hit" by the US Air Force.
Biography[]
Mohammed Emwazi was born on 17 August 1988 in Kuwait to Iraqi parents, and he moved to West London, United Kingdom at the age of six, growing up in Britain after Kuwait refused to give his parents Kuwaiti citizenship. He became a radical Islamist after a planned safari in Tanzania, but Emwazi, a German convert, and a man named Abu Talib were arrested by the police in Dar-es-Salaam. He planned to go to Somalia to join al-Shabaab in the Somali Civil War, but he was prevented from doing so, and he later headed to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where MI5 questioned him. In late 2009, he returned to Britain, incensed at the way he was treated.
Joining ISIS[]
Emwazi in Syria, 2015
Emwazi returned to Kuwait and worked for a computer company, and in June 2010 he was detained in London after two trips to Britain. Four months later, he wrote an e-mail that showed his admiration for female al-Qaeda member Aafia Siddiqui, and he became desperate to leave Britain. He failed to become a teacher of English in Saudi Arabia, and in 2012 he traveled to Syria to fight in the Syrian Civil War. Emwazi became a member of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and became a member of a cell of ISIS hostage-takers nicknamed "the Beatles" by the hostages.
Jihadi John[]
Jihadi John in his executioner clothing
Starting in late 2014, IS released many videos that depicted Emwazi beheading hostages, which started with the killing of American journalist James Foley. The videos then included Steven Sotloff, David Cawthorne Haines, Alan Henning, Peter Kassig, Muaz al-Kasasbeh, Haruna Yukawa, and Kenji Goto. The executions were put on the internet, and they became notorious images of ISIS' cruelty. The last video showed him having the Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot burnt to death, prompting Jordan to launch a bombing campaign against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, and they assisted in the liberation of Mosul from early 2015 onwards. He was identified on The Washington Post on 26 February 2015, although the previous suspects were Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, Abu Hussain al-Britani, and Abu Abdullah al-Britani. His family recognized him, with his father saying that when Emwazi headed for Syria, he wanted him to be killed; his cousins also said that his death would be good news to the family.
Death[]
On Thursday, 12 November 2015 Emwazi was targeted in an airstrike by the US Air Force as he left a building in al-Raqqah and entered a vehicle. The attack was carried out near the clock tower of Raqqa, and it was carried out with no risk of civilian casualties. There was no collateral damage in what the United States called a "clean hit", and the next day the United States stated that they were 99% sure that Emwazi was killed in the airstrike, saying that he was "vaporized". His death was a major blow to the Islamic State, as he was one of its symbols. On the same day that his death was confirmed, the Kurds recaptured Sinjar in Iraq, but there were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris by six to eight Islamic State terrorists that evening.