Jihadi John's father: No proof my son is 'Jihadi John'

      

According to British media man who says he's Mohammed Emwazi's father has reportedly said there is no proof that his son is the masked ISIS killer known as "Jihadi John."

"There is nothing that proves what is being circulated in the media, especially through video clips and footage, that the accused is my son Mohammed, who is being referred to as the alleged executioner" of ISIS, Jassem Emwazi told the Kuwaiti newspaper al Qabas.

Jassem Emwazi said there are only "false rumors" circulating about his son.

The elder Emwazi told the newspaper he has hired an attorney. The lawyer, Kuwait-based Salem Al-Hashash, told CNN on Tuesday that he was representing Jassem Emwazi and planned to file lawsuits against anyone who has claimed that Mohammed Emwazi is Jihadi John.

The lawyer called the father a "victim of libel" and said that he would soon hold a news conference.

Last week, two U.S. officials and two U.S. congressional sources confirmed to CNN that "Jihadi John" is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born Londoner.

Jassem Emwazi's statements to al Qabas appear to contradict reports this week that his wife recognized Jihadi John's voice as her son's when she saw footage that shows the man, whose face is covered, brandishing a knife and threatening ISIS hostages.    

Emwazi told British newspaper The Guardian that the stories about the couple recognizing the voice were false.

"Lie, lie, lie," he reportedly said. 

Mohammed Emwazi was born in Kuwait in 1988 and moved to the United Kingdom with his parents and sister when he was six, according to CAGE, an advocacy group for people suspected of involvement in terrorism. CAGE interacted with Emwazi before he joined the terror group, a member has said.

 

CAGE released a recording last week that it said it taped of Mohammed Emwazi in 2009. In that recording, Emwazi is heard talking about been questioned by British intelligence service regarding a July 2005 terror attack in London. 

  

    

 The family lived in this £1.4m apartment in Maida Vale, north London, from 2005 to 2007

  

 Before that, the family lived for two years at a a £600,000 apartment near Lord’s Cricket Ground 

  

The family claimed asylum in the UK and won refugee status in 1996, after fleeing from Kuwait in 1994. Pictured: Their council flat from 1999 to 2003

 

 They fled Kuwait after the first Gulf War, claiming persecution because they were seen to favour the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Pictured: Their first three-bedroom flat from 1996 to 1999 in Little Venice

Two more of the five owners of homes they have lived in have confirmed their rent was paid by the council or through a housing association.

Assuming the same £23,400-a-year cost, then the bill over 20 years is £468,000.

Emwazi’s father Jasem, 51, and his wife Ghaneya brought their family – including Mohammed, then aged six – to Britain in 1994.

The couple successfully argued that because they are ‘Bedoon’ – stateless people denied citizenship by Kuwait – they should be granted asylum. The award of British citizenship allowed the whole family to make regular trips back to Kuwait.

During their time in Britain, neither Jasem nor Ghaneya officially worked, although the owner of one of their homes alleges Mr Emwazi was working on the side for cash in hand.

Records show the family were first placed in a three-bedroom apartment – now worth £900,000 – in Little Venice before moving to a £1million terraced home. The £1,950-a-month rent was covered by Westminster City Council, according to the property’s owner.

The house had to be turned from four bedrooms to five to accommodate the growing family, whose four-year stay cost taxpayers about £93,600 in rent alone.

Despite the huge outlay, Mr Emwazi tried to buy the home for £300,000 – even though it was worth double this at the time. The owner had no idea how he had the cash to make the offer, which was declined.

The Emwazis were then moved to a £600,000 apartment near Lord’s Cricket Ground, which was rented through Network Housing Group, and then on to a £1.4million apartment in Maida Vale.

Eventually, they settled in a £600,000 flat in upmarket Queen’s Park. The family has lived there for the past eight years and the owner told the Mail it is still rented to them.

With a 12-year-old daughter, Hana, they are still believed to be claiming an estimated £7,821 a year in child benefits and child tax credits.

That is on top of annual claims of about £23,400 in housing benefit, £678 in council tax support and £5,929 in jobseeker’s allowance.

Their daughter Shayma, 23, is thought to be studying at Brunel University London, for which she is entitled to a grant of £3,387.

Sithy Hussain, 65, owns the £1million home in Little Venice and told the Mail that Mr Emwazi was an ‘aggressive sod’.

She added: ‘They were parasites. He was the tenant from hell. The rent went up to £450 a week and it was paid from housing benefits. They didn’t pay one penny.

‘They stayed for a few years and there were problems. They had to have another room because they had another child and they had the locks changed.’

Yesterday, a lawyer for Mr Emwazi insisted he returned to Kuwait from Britain last November and did not work in the Gulf state.

In sickening propaganda videos, his son led the beheadings of Britons Alan Henning and David Haines.