Johnson Attacks CAGE Over 'Jihadi John' Claims

Boris Johnson has launched an attack on the human rights campaigner who claimed that Mohammed Emwazi was an "extremely kind and gentle" man.

The Mayor of London was called by Asim Qureshi, a research director for CAGE, during an LBC Radio phone-in - and said he had been "moved to anger" by the group's claims that MI5 could be responsible for the radicalisation of "Jihadi John".

Confronting Mr Qureshi over his news conference last week , Mr Johnson said: "I watched you explain how he had been seeking 'a career overseas' and had been impeded by the security services in finding his vocation.

"Actually, he was going off to join a terrorist group in Somalia.

"I really, really think that the focus of your indignation and your outrage should be on people who go out to join groups that throw gays off cliffs, that behead people who don't subscribe to their version of Islam, that glorify in the execution of innocent journalists and aid workers.

"They should be the object of your wrath, not the security services who are trying to keep us safe."

Mr Johnson then urged the advocacy group to differentiate between people like Emwazi and ordinary Muslims, instead of "instantly decrying Islamophobia when people criticise, attack and denounce people who engage in such atrocities".

In reply to the Mayor's remarks, Mr Qureshi said: "What we want is to understand whether or not the security agencies' actions led to him feeling like he's not a part of British society."

CAGE has released an audio recording of Emwazi from 2009, in which the Islamic State militant claimed he had been harassed by the intelligence services.

A few months later, the 26-year-old told a journalist that he had contemplated suicide because of how he had been treated.

Last week, Mr Qureshi caused controversy when he said: "(CAGE) has evidence that there are several young Britons whose lives were not only ruined by security agencies, but who became disenfranchised and turned to violence because of British counter-terrorism policies."