Exposure of UK Islamic State Fighter Highlights University Radicalization

"Jihadi John," one of the Islamic State' most notorious executioners, was revealed on February 26 by the Washington Post to be a British citizen of Kuwaiti origin, Mohammed Emwazi (Washington Post, February 26). The revelation reignited debate over the extent of Islamist radicalization in the UK. Emwazi is believed to have been involved in the killing of the U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines and a group of captured Syrian soldiers (BBC, February 26). Emwazi remains free and apparently active in Syria, although following his naming, UK Prime Minister David Cameron promised "to find these people and put them out of action," a reference to both Emwazi and other British jihadists abroad (Guardian, February 27). The revelations have refocused attention on whether some British universities are acting as incubators for Islamist extremism.

In 2006, Emwazi enrolled at the University of Westminster, in central London, to study a three-year information and business degree. The university, which has a significant population of both British and foreign Muslims, has previously been associated with various issues around radicalization; for instance, it is home to significant numbers of supporters of the pro-caliphate Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, some of whom were elected to various student posts at the university (Telegraph, April 20, 2011; Evening Standard, April 12, 2011). The university also attracted high profile radical speakers, including Anwar al-Awlaki, later a leading al-Qaeda preacher, who addressed students at the university in 2006 (Huffington Post, February 27). Although the effect of this environment on Emwazi himself remains unclear, one former Westminster student has alleged that "extreme religious views were prevalent within the institution" and recalled that student union presidents had shared online videos such as a rap entitled "Khilafah's Coming Back," which he linked to Emwazi's ultimate radicalization (Washington Post, February 27). Indeed, in the very week that Emwazi's identity was revealed, Westminster was already embroiled in a high-profile controversy over the upcoming visit by one of the UK's most hardline Salafist preachers, Haitham al-Haddad, who had been invited by the university's student Islamic Society (Independent, March 23). A university spokesman claimed that "we are shocked and sickened by the news" of the Emwazi connection, and said "we are working to implement the Government's Prevent strategy to tackle extremism" (Evening Standard, February 26).

The case of the University of Westminster is part of a broader and well-documented trend of graduates of a range of British universities becoming involved in Islamist terrorism, often against a background of considerable Islamist activism on campuses. Other jihadists linked to universities include Umar al-Faruq Abd al-Mutalib, a former student at University College London, who attempted to blow up a transatlantic airliner on Christmas Day in 2009 (BBC, October 12, 2013). Likewise, Michael Adebolago, who killed and beheaded a British soldier in East London in May 2013, had previously converted to a radical form of Islam while studying at London's University of Greenwich (BBC, December 19, 2013). Yassin Nassari, another former Westminster University student, was jailed in 2007 for possessing blueprints of how to make primitive rockets (Guardian, February 27). At the same time, however, resistance within British academia to tackle Islamist radicalization remains strong. For instance, recent government proposals to tackle "hate-preaching" at universities have been attacked by a coalition of academics as "both unnecessary and ill-conceived" (Guardian, February 2). Likewise, the same proposals have been partly resisted by the Liberal Democrats, the junior partners in the UK's governing coalition, which wants only preachers who directly incite violence to be banned from universities; Conservatives meanwhile favor banning preachers who promote a broader range of extremist ideals, potentially including ideas such as recreating the caliphate or applying Shari'a law (BBC, March 1). In this context, despite the public outing of Emwazi, UK universities are likely to remains an important breeding ground for jihadists for the foreseeable future.

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