A British rapper is suspected of being the masked jihadist who publicly executed journalist James Foley.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, from Maida Vale, west London, is understood to have become a crucial part of investigations by counterterrorism police and MI5, according to a report in the UK's Sunday Times.
Whitehall and police officials have told The Sunday Times that MI5 is now certain of the identity of the British jihadist who appeared in the beheading video posted by Isis, also known as the Islamic State, last week.
Bary, 23, is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terror charges in New York tied to the deadly 1998 bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Former hostages held by ISIS have said he is one of several jihadists they nicknamed “the Beatles” due to their British accents, with two of his cronies referred to as “George” and “Ringo.”
Bary — who recently tweeted a photo of himself holding up a severed head — was among three Brits identified as possibly being the masked killer known as “John”. In June, The Sunday Times revealed a threat made by Bary on Twitter. “The lions are coming for you soon you filthy kuffs (infidels),” he wrote. “Beheadings in your own backyard soon.”
Before becoming a jihadist, he was an aspiring rapper known as “L Jinny,” whose music was played on BBC Radio 1. Bary also appeared in music videos posted on YouTube for songs titled Overdose, Flying High and Dreamer. But he was reportedly radicalised by followers of firebrand Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary and walked out of his family’s plush West London home last year, saying he was “leaving everything for the sake of Allah.”
