Dar ‘deported IS executioner in 2009’

Dar es Salaam. The knife-wielding militant who appears in gory Islamic State (IS) videos claiming responsibility for the beheadings of US, British and other hostages was refused entry to Tanzania and deported in 2009, according to international news media.

He was yesterday identified as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old British university graduate from west London.

In a series of emails he sent in 2010 to Cage, a British organisation which campaigns on behalf of communities affected by the “war on terror”, Emwazi claimed that he went on a safari holiday to Tanzania in 2009, but on landing in Dar es Salaam he was detained by police and held overnight, according to the Guardian of the UK.

After being refused entry to Tanzania, Emwazi, previously known as “Jihadi John”, was put on a plane to the Netherlands, where he said he was questioned by a British intelligence officer named “Nick” who accused him of wanting to fight in Somalia, where the militant group al-Shabaab operates in the southern part of the country.

But Inspector General of Police Ernest Mangu told The Citizen yesterday that Emwazi’s name did not appear in the database of suspected foreign criminals detained and deported around that time.

“However, I cannot say for certain that he was not held here because criminals of his type are masters of deception…they disguise their identities and use forged travel documents,” he said.

Home Affairs minister Mathias Chikawe and acting Director of Criminal Investigations Diwani Athumani could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Emwazi is from a middle class family and earned a degree in computer programming before travelling to Syria around 2012, according to the Washington Post.

He apparently became radicalised after being detained by authorities following his journey to Tanzania and being accused by British intelligence officers of trying to make his way to Somalia, where they believed he had links to a man with connections to al-Shabaab.

He was also angered after being barred from flying from London to Kuwait, according to emails sent by him to pressure group Cage.

“I had a job waiting for me and marriage to get started,” he wrote in a June 2010 email published by the Washington Post and the Guardian.

But now “I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London,” he added. “A person imprisoned and controlled by security service men, stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace and country, Kuwait.”

Emwazi’s name was first published by the Washington Post yesterday morning. Strenuous efforts appear to have been made to cover his tracks on the internet. He guarded western hostages and handled negotiations with their families. By all accounts he is a ruthless killer who has shown little compunction about his gory, on-screen murders.

Emwazi arrived in Britain as a young boy, aged six, after being born in Kuwait. He grew up in west London and was known as a polite, mild-mannered young man.

Those who knew him say he had a penchant for wearing stylish clothes but remained an observant Muslim. The Washington Post describes him as bearded and as careful not to make eye contact with women.

He graduated in 2009 in information technology and is also fluent in Arabic. However, instead of a computing career, Emwazi ended up on British intelligence radar.

Over the course of a year he claimed to have been harassed and intimidated by the security services. In 2010 he went as far as to file a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission over his treatment.

The security services declined to confirm or deny that Emwazi was the knife-wielding killer. The British Prime Minister’s office also refused to comment on the reports.

Mr David Cameron’s deputy official spokesman said: “We cannot confirm or deny anything in relation to intelligence. The point the prime minister would make, which we have said since we have seen the awful actions of these Isil terrorists, is that we are absolutely determined to bring the perpetrators to justice. The police and security agencies have been working hard to do that.”

Asked whether Emwazi was known to the security services, she said: “I’m not going to get into the details of an ongoing police and security investigation.”

According to people who have moved in jihadi circles in west London, Emwazi began to be noticed about five or six years ago. “That’s when he emerged, so to speak,” said one. Among his associates at that time was Bilal el-Berjawi, a Londoner of Lebanese origin who was killed by a drone strike in Somalia three years ago. “Jihadi John”, named after Beatle John Lennon due to his British accent, 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.

In the videos posted online, he appears dressed all in black with only his eyes exposed, and wields a knife while launching tirades against the West.

Additional reporting by AFP