Jihadi John: David Haines’ widow wants militant in ISIS video alive
David Haines’ widow says she wants ISIS militant Jihadi John to be caught alive.
Dragana Haines says the “last thing” she wants for the man who killed her husband is an “honourable death”.
Jihadi John, pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Briton from west London.
David Haines’ daughter said she wanted to see “a bullet between his eyes”.
Mohammed Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s and was previously known to British security services, first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed American journalist James Foley.
He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of British aid worker David Haines, American journalist Steven Sotloff, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig.
In a recent interview with BBC, Dragana Haines said she wanted Mohammed Emwazi to be caught alive and not have an “honorable death” by being killed in action.
A spokesman for the family of Steven Sotloff said: “We want to sit in a courtroom, watch him sentenced and see him sent to a super-max prison.”
Steven Foley’s mother Diane told the Times that she forgave her son’s killer.
“It saddens me, [Mohammed Emwazi’s] continued hatred,” she said.
“He felt wronged, now we hate him – now that just prolongs the hatred. We need to end it.
“As a mum I forgive him. You know, the whole thing is tragic – an ongoing tragedy.”
In each of the videos, Jihadi John appeared dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.
Speaking with a British accent, he taunted Western powers before holding his knife to the hostages’ necks, appearing to start cutting before the film stopped. The victims’ decapitated bodies were then shown.
Earlier this month, Jihadi John featured in a video in which the Japanese journalist Kenji Goto appeared to be beheaded.
Hostages released by ISIS said he was one of three British jihadists guarding Westerners abducted by the group in Syria. They were known collectively as “the Beatles”.
Mohammed Emwazi known as Jihadi John:
- 1988: Born in Kuwait, moves to UK in 1994
- 2009: Completes computing degree at University of Westminster
- Aug 2009: Travels to Tanzania with two friends, he says for safari, but refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Put on flight to Amsterdam. After questioning there, returns to Dover
- Sept 2009: Travels to Kuwait to stay with father’s family
- July 2010: Returns to UK for short stay but told he cannot return to Kuwait as visa denied
- 2012: Passes Celta English language teaching course
- 2013: Changes name by deed poll to Mohammed al-Ayan. Tries to travel to Kuwait but is stopped. Disappears. Parents report him missing. Police tell family four months later he has entered Syria
Source: Cage, London-based campaign group
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