THE York-based Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has defended its funding of the campaign group Cage after it blamed MI5 for radicalising ‘Jihadi John.’

Earlier this week, Cage leader Asim Qureshi accused the security services of radicalising Mohammed Emwazi, the London student who has been identified as Islamic State militant ‘Jihadi John’, by harassing and alienating him.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron has condemned the claims as “reprehensible”.

The Rowntree Trust said in a statement that it had previously funded Cage to ‘promote and protect human rights,’ saying: “We believe that they have played an important role in highlighting the ongoing abuses at Guantanamo Bay and at many other sites around the world, including many instances of torture.”

It said that as a Quaker trust, it rejected and condemned all violence, including all violence for political ends. “We believe that building sustainable security requires patient, long-term work to address the underlying causes of conflict and injustice.”

It also said the Trust did not necessarily agree with every action or statement of any group that it had funded, but stressed: “We believe that Cage is asking legitimate questions about security service contact with those who have gone on to commit high-profile and horrific acts of violence, but this does not in any way absolve any such individual from responsibility for such criminal acts.”