UK university cancels talk by controversial preacher, after Islamic State executioner revealed to be a graduate
Terrorist recruiters are targeting colleges such as Mohammed Emwazi's alma mater, whose students were linked to extremism in the past
On the same day that the notorious Islamic State executioner "Jihadi John" was revealed to be a graduate of London's Westminster University, his alma mater was due to host an address by a radical Islamist preacher who has called for Israel's elimination and described gays as "a scourge".
The Thursday appearance was abruptly postponed when 26-year-old Mohammed Emwazi was unmasked. But the event underscores what students, professors, policymakers and analysts say is a troubling undercurrent of extremism at British universities, especially Westminster.
Although it is still not known exactly how or when Emwazi was radicalised, he would not have had to travel far from the university in the heart of London to find inspiration.
The institution has regularly sponsored visits by speakers whose pronouncements echo Islamic State ideology, and its campus has been a recruiting spot for groups that are known to funnel fighters to Syria.
Four years ago - not long after Emwazi's 2009 graduation - the student body elected a president and vice president who were reportedly associated with a banned group that supports the restoration of the caliphate, a core Islamic State objective.
"We shouldn't be surprised" that Emwazi was a university graduate, said Haras Rafiq, managing director of the Qulliam Foundation, a London-based counter-extremism group co-founded by a former campus radical. "Universities have been a hotbed for these kinds of views."