14 DAY TRIAL // American and British intelligence have made their first breakthrough in the shocking case of the American journalist James Foley who was brutally beheaded by terrorists, with the recording of the crime then sent out as a warning message from ISIS to the western world.
FOX News confirms Abdel's identity and mentions that, at the moment, he is the main suspect in the case. Abdel holds a long and complicated history with terrorism, which makes him the perfect candidate for the profile of the killer.
He is a British-born rapper and militant, 23, and in the video he appears as a masked man, wielding a knife in front of James Foley. His roots are evident because of the British accent heard in the clip, and he is believed to be known to friends as “Jihadi John.”
In the UK, Abdel was a rising star, a rapper who performed under the name of L Jinny, living in his parents' multi-million home in Maida Vale, before he left to fight in Syria. Photos from his social media accounts show him taking a turn into the radical views of the terrorists.
American intelligence think that Abdel was swayed to join terrorism by the fact that his father, an Egyptian-born businessman, was extradited from the UK to the United States in 2012, because he was believed to have had connections with Osama bin Laden, and had even played a role in the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Africa.
In early August, he tweeted a photo of himself in military camouflage and with a back hood, while holding up a human severed head. This was enough to make MI6 send out a “significant force” of SAS troops to hunt down Abdel.
The force was deployed in northern Iraq and for the past two days, they have been hunting for the alleged killer. The effort is also aimed at identifying and capturing other British jihadis.
Abdel is said to be part of a special group of such jihadis, known as “The Beatles,” because of their British accents. He is being codenamed “John,” while two others are being referred to as “George” and “Ringo.”
While the search in Iraq continues, forensic investigators are now trying to determine voice patterns from his earlier recorded songs, some of which have been even broadcast on BBC Radio 1 at one point in time. Special voice recognition technology is being used to determine patterns and similarities that would prove that he is the man who decapitated Foley.