MOHAMMED EMWAZI has apologised to his family for the shame he has heaped on them after being unmasked as the Isis butcher from Britain known as Jihadi John.
The Sunday Times has discovered that Emwazi, 26, a computer science graduate from London, had conveyed his message of regret from Syria via a third party.
He is said to be sorry for the “problems and trouble the revelation of his identity has caused” his parents and siblings, according to an informed source.
Emwazi has not expressed any remorse for his barbaric actions, however, which have included the apparent beheading on camera of a number of western hostages, including two British aid workers.
The Londoner’s family, who are originally from Kuwait, have been forced into hiding after Emwazi was named as Jihadi John 10 days ago. His mother, Ghaneya, and four of his five siblings are said to be under police protection at a secret address in Britain at a cost of £5,000 a day. Emwazi’s father, Jasim, and his eldest sister, Asma, are in Kuwait.
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This weekend it emerged that Scotland Yard has stepped up patrols near the family home in Queen’s Park, northwest London, amid fears of a possible backlash and rising community tensions.
Fresh questions have also been raised about whether the Emwazis may have exaggerated claims of persecution in their native Kuwait so as to be granted refugee status in Britain in the early 1990s.
In a further twist, Emwazi’s younger brother Omar, 21, has been involved in the student Islamic society at Middlesex University, which has promoted hardline preachers, including one who justifies domestic abuse.
Emwazi’s apology to his family is partly self-serving because under Islam it is believed that those who disobey or disrespect their parents are more likely to go to hell. A message of regret could arguably allow him to fulfil his “religious obligations”.
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Last week Jasim Emwazi reportedly described his son to a work colleague as “a dog, an animal and a terrorist” .
He later denied the claim, however, and is now questioning whether his son is really Jihadi John.
Emwazi, a former student at Westminster University, managed to travel to Syria in early 2013 despite being part of a terrorist network in London known to MI5 for at least six years.
He was first identified as the masked killer of Isis — also known as Islamic State — by The Washington Post on February 26, a claim subsequently corroborated by US intelligence sources.
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The family of Emwazi were advised to move out of their £600,000 council house as soon as he was named by the media.
One sister, Shayma, 23, an economics graduate, has received abusive messages on social media and is said by friends to fear for her life.
A letter sent by police to neighbours and seen by The Sunday Times states: “We would like to provide reassurance to local residents that that address is currently unoccupied.”
It also refers to “increased police patrols” in the area amid concerns of a potential backlash. “We would not want any such events to cause division in our strong community.”
The Emwazis are members of the Bedoon stateless minority who originally crossed from Iraq into Kuwait after the first Gulf War. Some reports claim several relatives had collaborated with Saddam Hussein and that Jasim, Ghaneya, Mohammed and Asma Emwazi fled to Britain in about 1993 to seek refugee status. Far from fleeing persecution, one senior Kuwaiti government official claimed they had moved to the UK to seek “better economic opportunities”.
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He said: “They made the same exaggerated claims and lies made by other Bedoons.” He conceded that Bedoons are not granted Kuwaiti citizenship and are paid lower wages, but he said that once in Britain the Emwazis were eligible for a raft of welfare payments.
Four of the siblings have received a British university education. Emwazi’s younger brother, Omar, studied at Middlesex University and, according to internet records, served as the events and campaigns officer of the student Islamic society.
In December the society hosted a training seminar on campus using material from a hardline proselytising group called the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA).
The society has also promoted militant iERA speakers on Twitter, including Abdurraheem Green, who has previously justified domestic abuse, as well as Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, a preacher who has compared homosexuality to paedophilia and cannibalism.
In 2013 the iERA was banned from University College London for allegedly trying to segregate men and women at a debate, which it has denied.
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Middlesex University said that it runs a “no platform” policy banning extremist preachers from its campus and is engaged with the government’s Prevent counter-radicalisation strategy. It also said that no iERA speakers had attended the training seminar in December.
The university added: “A presentation about how to talk to others about the Islamic faith was downloaded from the iERA website and was discussed at the event.”