Former ISIS fighter says Jihadi John is 'strange' and a 'cold loner'

A former ISIS fighter says that the man known as "Jihadi John" is a "cold loner" who was eager to appear in propaganda videos.

The defector, who calls himself Abu Ayman, told the BBC that he met Jihadi John, identified publicly last week as Mohammed Emwazi, in the northern Syrian town of Atmeh. "He didn't talk much," he said. "He wouldn't join us in prayer. He'd only pray with his friends.... The other British brothers prayed with us, but he was strange." Emwazi would refuse to say hello and turn his face away, Abu Ayman said, and wouldn't spend time with his fellow fighters from Britain.

Abu Ayman said Emwazi became Jihadi John because "ISIS have professional psychologists. They know who to choose from the fighters and how to make them famous. Still, there was nothing special about Jihadi John...anyone could have become like him." Abu Ayman said he left after being told to kill a woman and children, but many others are flooding into Syria after seeing the brutal videos of Emwazi released by ISIS. "He's a celebrity to attract our Muslim brothers in Europe," he said. Watch the BBC's recreation of the interview below. —Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.