Widow of hostage: ‘Jihadi John’ doesn’t deserve ‘honorable death’

            The widow of a man killed by the masked Islamic State militant previously known as “Jihadi John” said Friday she wanted him caught alive, insisting he does not deserve an “honorable death.”

Britain’s prime minister, meanwhile, defended the country’s security agencies amid questions about intelligence gathering on the man — identified by The Washington Post as Mohammed Emwazi — during his many years in Britain.

[Read: Islamic State killer is identified as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi]

Prime Minister David Cameron did not specifically mention the Kuwait-born Emwazi, who has appeared in Islamic State videos and carrying out beheadings against Western captives including British citizens.

But Cameron vowed to track down anyone who commits “appalling and heinous” crimes against the country’s citizens.

He also threw his support behind Britain’s security services, saying they perform an “incredibly impressive” job.

“All of the time, they are having to make in­cred­ibly difficult judgments, and I think basically they make very good judgments on our behalf,” he said during a visit to Wales.

Dragana Haines, widow of slain British aid worker David Haines, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that she did not want her husband’s murderer killed in action, which she described as an “honorable death.”

“I think he needs to be put to justice, but not in that way,” said Haines, whose husband was killed in September.

[Archives: The Islamic State is failing at being a state]

“People of his kind believe that death in combat is an honor, something special,” she told the Associated Press from her home in Croatia. “I think it would be better if he would end up in court.”

But Haines’s daughter, Bethany, meanwhile, told Britain’s ITV News: “I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there’s a bullet between his eyes.”

The family of American journalist Steven Sotloff, who was similarly murdered earlier in September, expressed hope that the killer would go to prison.

The family said it felt “relieved” and took “comfort” from the disclosure of Emwazi’s identity on Thursday, according to the BBC.

“We want to sit in a courtroom, watch him sentenced and see him sent to a super-max prison where he will spend the rest of his life in isolation,” the BBC quoted a family spokesman as saying.

Attorney General Eric Holder told CNN that nothing is “off the table” in the hunt for Emwazi or others who have harmed Americans.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, we will find you,” he said. “We will hunt you down.”

There has been no comment from the Islamic State’s various online channels regarding the disclosure of Emwazi’s identity.

“If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news,” said a statement from the University of Westminster, where Emwazi studied computer programming, after the news broke Thursday. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

Britain’s counterterrorism chief said authorities would not disclose details of its investigations into “Jihadi John.”

The Post report said Emwazi is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and later joined the Islamic State. The Post said counterterrorism officials in Britain detained Emwazi in 2010, fingerprinted him and searched his belongings.

Cmdr. Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said no public details of the ongoing probe into Emwazi will be released.

“We are not going to confirm the identity of anyone at this stage or give an update on the progress of this live counterterrorism investigation,” Walton said in a statement.

The International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a leading authority on foreign recruitment methods by militant groups, described The Post’s reporting on Emwazi’s identity as “accurate and correct.”

[Read: Emwazi filed a complaint with police. This is the response.]

“The fact that ‘Jihadi John’ has been unveiled in this manner demonstrates that whatever efforts are made, the ability to mask one’s identity is limited or in fact impossible, and their true identities will eventually be revealed,” said a statement from the center, which is based at King’s College in London.

“This demonstrates what we have long said about radicalization, that it is not something driven by poverty or social deprivation,” the center added. “Ideology clearly plays a big role in motivating some men to participate in jihadist causes.”

Earlier this month, the director of the U.S. National Counter Terrorism Center told a congressional panel that an estimated 20,000 foreigners from 90 countries — including about 3,400 from Western nations — have joined militant factions in Syria, including the Islamic State."