Story highlights
Jassem Emwazi's attorney tells CNN he will sue people who say son is "Jihadi John"
Kuwaiti newspaper: Father of Mohammed Emwazi attacks "false rumors" about his son
A 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.
CNN’s Samira Said, Roba Alhenawi and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.
