Mohammed Emwazi's father denies recognising son from video, threatens lawsuit against 'rumours'
Jassem Emwazi, the father of Mohammed Emwazi, has denied reports that their son is the masked jihadist known as Jihadi John.
Jihadi John is the infamous Islamic State executioner that featured in five execution videos. He last appeared in the January execution video of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, a devout Christian.
After reports came out last week that Mohammed was the man behind the mask of Jihadi John, the media outlets reported that a Kuwaiti police investigation found his parents had recognised their son from the first Islamic State video depicting the beheading of American journalist James Foley.
Jassem, his wife Ghaina, and a son were brought in for questioning by the Kuwaiti police on Sunday.
"The mother recognised the voice and she screamed 'that is my son' while he was talking before beheading the first American hostage," a source within the Kuwaiti investigation was quoted in the report as saying.
The source also said Jassem was positive about Mohammed being Jihadi John after they replayed the video, and alleged that Jassem was upset and very emotional during the questioning.
However, Jassem said n an article at The Guardian that the reports are an outright "lie, lie, lie."
"I have a message to the Kuwaiti people that many of the rumours are false," the Guardian quoted Jassam as saying. "Because I felt that some people have believed it, I have assigned a lawyer to defend me and to prove ... that what is being said is untrue."
""There is nothing that proves what is being circulated in the media... that the accused is my son Mohammed," he added.
Family lawyer Salem al-Hashash confirmed that Jassem was indeed interrogated for three hours by Kuwaiti authorities, but he was subsequently released because there was "no suspicion" against him nor against his wife and son. Hashash also added that a lawyer has also been retained to defend Emwazi's relatives who are living in Britain.