A former Maida Vale rapper accused of being an Islamic State fighter has been found dead in his prison cell in Spain.
Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 32, once thought to be ISIS killer ‘Jihadi John’ was reportedly found dead in El Puerto III Prison near Cadiz yesterday morning (July 27).
The rapper, who grew up in Maida Vale, was known as Lyricist Jinn and L Jinny in the early 2010s.
Following his arrest in 2020, he was dubbed one of Europe’s “most wanted foreign IS fighters” by Spanish police.
Así detuvimos en #Almería a uno de los Foreign Terrorist Fighters de DAESH más buscados de #Europa. De nacionalidad egipcia, habría entrado ilegalmente en España y se ocultaba en un piso de alquiler. También se arrestó a otras dos personas que lo acompañaban pic.twitter.com/14f2v2brEg
— Policía Nacional (@policia) April 21, 2020
Spanish police tweeted: "This is how we arrested one of the most wanted DAESH Foreign Terrorist Fighters in #Europe in #Almería. Of Egyptian nationality, he would have entered Spain illegally and was hiding in a rented apartment. Two other people accompanying him were also arrested."
He went on trial earlier this month in Madrid on suspicion of joining the Islamic State in Syria between 2013 and 2015. He reportedly denied all charges in court.
The alleged jihadist was awaiting a verdict on the terror charges when he was found dead by prison guards.
According to LBC, an internal service investigation will now be carried out in the Spanish prison.
Bary was born in Egypt but lived and attended school in London.
During a hunt for ‘Jihadi John’, who filmed himself putting a knife to American journalist James Foley’s throat and later claimed he beheaded him, Bary initially emerged as a key suspect.
But the jihadist was later identified as a different Londoner, Mohammed Emwazi.
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