ISIS' leading man, the masked Jihadi John's true identity revealed

A Londoner is believed to be the man behind many ISIS beheading videos

The man behind the mask in brutal ISIS execution videos, known as Jihadi John, is assumed to be a British man named Mohammed Emwazi. Jihadi John appears in the beheading videos of American hostages, James Foley and Steven Sotloff and Britan hostages, Alan Henning and David Haines.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The extremist's identity was first announced by The Washington Post, but lacked any solid sources. Next, the BBC announced his name, also without citing any sources.

The White House will neither confirm or deny Jihadi John's identity, stating in a statement, "the government continues to investigate the murder of American citizens by ISIS and that it does not comment on ongoing investigations."

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According to BBC and The Washington Post Emwazi is a Britain born in Kuwait, previously known to intelligence agencies. He grew up in West London, where he graduated from college with a computer programming degree.

Emwazi has had strong links to Somalia, and appears to have become "radicalized after he left the university."

The International Centre for the Study of Radicalization has expressed their belief that Emwazi's identity as Jihadi John "to be accurate and correct."

"If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news," said A University of Westminster spokeswoman in a statement to NBC confirming a student named Mohammed Emwazi left her college in 2009. "With other universities in London, we are working to implement the government's 'Prevent' strategy to tackle extremism."

The UK-based human rights group CAGE described its previous relationship with Emwazi as a close one. He first contacted the group in 2010 after being arrested and questioned by Britain's intelligence agency M15 who linked him to Islamic extremism.

He explained to CAGE his previous experiences dealing with human rights and discrimination included being refused access to his home country, Kuwait.

"I have been trying to find out the reason for my refused Visa issue from my home country Kuwait, and a way to solve the issue," an email from Emwazi to CAGE in 2010 read. "...Kuwait has no problem with me entering, and the reason for my refusal is simply because the U.K. agents have told them to not let me in!"

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"Now I feel like a prisoner, only not in a cage, in London. A person imprisoned and controlled by security service men, stopping me from living my new life in my birthplace and my country, Kuwait," he added.

Emwazi is said to have traveled to Syria in 2012, where he joined ISIS.

Although the CAGE research director, Asim Qureshi admits Emwazi and Jihadi John bare "some striking similarities," there is "no way" for him to fully identify them to be the same man.

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