Boris Johnson in on-air spat with activist who called Jihadi John 'beautiful'
BORIS Johnson has clashed with the director of a controversial organisation that defended Islamic State militant 'Jihadi John' on a radio phone-in show.
The Mayor of London told Asim Qureshi, director of independent advocacy group Cage, that he had it "100 per cent the wrong way up" over the campaign group's claims that Britain's security services pushed 26-year-old Mohammed Emwazi into terrorism.
Mr Johnson told Mr Qureshi: "I have to say what moved me to anger was the thought that you were claiming that the fault for the radicalisation of this young guy lay with the security services.
"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 Qureshi, who phoned in to get the Conservative politician's views during the LBC broadcast, was also accused of "instantly cry[ing] Islamophobia".
The Cage director responded by saying that "the whole of the Muslim community is against these kind of abuses".
But Mr Johnson retorted that Mr Qureshi was arguing using "irrelevant nonsense".
The mayor ended the conversation by telling Mr Qureshi: "If you're a human rights group, funded by charity, then you should be sticking up for the human rights of those who are being beheaded in Syria and in Northern Iraq.
"That should be the focus of your concern."
The on-air spat comes just days after Cage, which campaigns on behalf of terror suspects who are denied legal rights, said they had met with Emwazi before he left for Syria, describing him as “a beautiful young man”.
Led by former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg, the group received a £305,000 from the social welfare charity the Joseph Rowntree Trust.
It also got a £120,000 grant from a charity set up in the name of Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, with the rest of its donations coming from personal donations.
Emwazi was last week revealed to be the Islamic State killer believed to be responsible for the murder of a number of Western hostages.
