The London man named as the black-masked terrorist called “Jihadi John” had a history of contacts with anti-terrorism agents in and out of the UK.  And an advocacy group says that might have been what pushed him over the edged to become a merciless killer. 

Members of the UK group “Cage” say they knew Mohammed Emwazi before he joined Islamic State and appeared in a series of videos beheading foreign captives.  Cage’s Asim Qureshi rather sensationally referred to Emwazi as a “beautiful man” in television interviews on Thursday.  The British media was extremely skeptical of this hypothesis.

So, is such a change even possible?  In a series of emails, Emwazi complained of harassment from the UK authorities since 2009.  In one case, Emwazi was stopped in Amsterdam by an MI5 agent identified as “Nick”.

“He knew everything about me; where I lived, what I did, the people I hanged around with,” Emwazi wrote.  “He also believed that I was lying” about Emwazi’s itinerary, which was to travel to Tanzania.  The agent repeatedly accused Emwazi of trying to go to Somalia, and allegedly threatened him.  Emwazi claimed this happened several times as he traveled to and from the UK.

Cage insists that this sort of alleged harassment further alienates individuals who may already be borderline desperate, feeds hatred of the West, and pushes them to join the only seemingly sympathetic groups – which turn out to be the most vile terrorist murderers in the world right now. 

Cage also represented the family of Michael Adebolajo, who butchered Lee Rigby in a London street in May 2013.  Although the group is adamant that people who commit atrocities are responsible for their own actions, Cage points out that Adebolajo – like Emwazi – had been repeatedly contacted and questioned by the security services prior to his violent action.

But given the horror of Rigby’s death, and Emwazi’s actions as the taunting, maniacal killer known as “Jihadi John”, it seems unlikely that many Brits will subscribe to Cage’s view on what creates terrorists.