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ISIS Confirms Death of ‘Honorable Brother’ Jihadi John

The death of the murderer who killed Steven Sotloff, James Foley, and many others, was confirmed by the Islamic State in ‘Dabiq’ magazine

by
Jonathan Zalman
January 20, 2016
Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images
An Islamic State flag flies in the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad as it is pictured from the Turkish border town of Akcakale, in Sanliurfa province of Turkey, June 15, 2015. Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images
Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images
An Islamic State flag flies in the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad as it is pictured from the Turkish border town of Akcakale, in Sanliurfa province of Turkey, June 15, 2015. Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images

On August 14, 2014, the world met Mohammed Emwazi, a Londoner, when the Islamic State published a video of him in the Middle Eastern desert killing American journalist James Foley, and spouting militant company lines. Two weeks later, Emwazi, then branded with the moniker “Jihadi John” by the media, murdered Israeli-American journalist Steven Sotloff. Emwazi would go on to execute many more; among those reported were David Haines, Alan Henning, Peter Kassig, and Japenese freelancers Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

In November 2014, the U.S. reported they were “reasonably certain” it had killed Emwazi in drone strike in Raqqa, a key city in Syria’s ongoing civil war. (A month later, the president released a statement from the Pentagon further confirming the Emwazi’s death.)

This week, the Islamic State, through its Dabiq magazine, published a eulogy to Emwazi, in the latest issue, which confirms Emwazi’s death from an unmanned drone “on Thursday, the 29th of Muharram, 1437” (which refers to November 12, 2015). On page 22, the magazine deems Emwazi, who they named Abū Muhārib al-Muhājir, as an “honorable brother.”

Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.