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Mohammed Emwazi is named by media and experts as the militant thought to have beheaded at least five Western hostages held by the IS group.

'Jihadi John' reportedly contemplated suicide because of security surveillance

The London man believed to be Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" told a journalist four years ago that surveillance by British security services had left him contemplating suicide.

AFP

The London man believed to be Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" told a journalist four years ago that surveillance by British security services had left him contemplating suicide.

Mohammed Emwazi, named by media and experts as the militant thought to have beheaded at least five Western hostages held by the IS group, told a reporter that he felt like a "dead man walking". Cage, a British civil rights group that was in contact with Emwazi, claims that domestic spy agency MI5 had been tracking him since at least 2009 and blamed his radicalisation on its "harassment".

Prime Minister David Cameron and a former head of foreign spy agency MI6 strongly rejected the idea, while the London mayor, Boris Johnson, accused Cage of an "apology for terror".

In an email to the reporter Robert Verkaik, dated December 14, 2010, Emwazi described how he sold his laptop to someone he met online who he subsequently came to believe was with the security services. "Sometimes I feel like I'm a dead man walking, not fearing they may kill me. Rather, fearing that one day, I'll take as many pills as I can that I can sleep forever!! I just want to get away from these people!!!" Emwazi wrote.

He was born in Kuwait but moved to London when he was a child and attended school and university there. reported over the weekend that he went to high school with two other boys who went on to become militants - Choukri Ellekhlifi, who was killed fighting in Syria, and Mohammed Sakr, killed fighting in Somalia.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said on Saturday that it had launched a review into how the Quintin Kynaston school in north London dealt with radicalisation "to see if there are any lessons we can learn". It was also reported that Emwazi had contacts with the men responsible for failed attacks on London's public transport system in 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings killed 52 people in the capital.

All the revelations add to pressure on the security and intelligence agencies to explain why they did not act on their suspicions about Emwazi before he travelled to Syria.

Cameron on Friday defended their actions.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: 'Jihadi John' reportedly contemplated suicide
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