LONDON (AP) – A former hostage held in Syria by Islamic State extremists for more than six months has described mock executions and other forms of psychological torture against him and other captives.
Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa wrote in The Sunday Times that militant Mohammed Emwazi played a lead role in the mock executions. Emwazi, a Londoner nicknamed “Jihadi John,” is believed to have played a central role in a series of beheading videos.
Espinosa, who works for El Mundo and was on assignment for the Spanish daily when he was abducted in September 2013, characterized Emwazi as a bloodthirsty psychopath who enjoyed threatening him and other Western hostages.
He said Emwazi “caressed” his neck with a long blade and described how he would behead Espinosa: “‘Feel it? Cold, isn’t it? Can you imagine the pain you’ll feel when it cuts? Unimaginable pain,'” he quoted Emwazi as saying.
Emwazi went on to describe precisely how the beheading would occur, the former hostage said, and explained where he would place Espinosa’s head once it had been done.