Islamist campaigner: Asim Qureshi is research director of the Cage human rights pressure group

The Islamist campaigner who described Jihadi John as a ‘beautiful young man’ claims he himself was turned into an ‘anti-white racist’ at private school.

Asim Qureshi, 33, said he and other ethnic minority children were ghettoised at £18,000-a-year Whitgift School in Croydon, south London.

Rich white boys – particularly rugby players – apparently bullied and racially abused ‘five foot nothing Asians’.

The campaigner sparked outrage last week when he made himself chief apologist for the suddenly-unmasked British Islamic State killer Mohammed Emwazi, claiming the terrorist was radicalised by security service harassment.

Mr Qureshi, the research director of the controversial Cage human rights pressure group, has known Emwazi for years, and has previously been caught on camera urging Muslims to support jihad during a rally the American embassy in London.

But the Daily Mail can reveal that the campaigner had previously told how he became actively ‘anti-white’ himself – and blamed it on rich white pupils at elite Whitgift. Fees for full boarders there are £35,000-a-year.

Mr Qureshi, who lives in a £530,000 detached house in Surrey, was born in Britain to Pakistani parents and – thanks to his mother’s ice-cream business – was sent to 400-year-old Whitgift.

He said: ‘It is a very expensive private school. It is one of those schools that has every single facility available. I did not necessarily, from an academic perspective, take the best advantage of it.

Bullying claims: Mr Qureshi said he and other ethnic minority children were ghettoised at £18,000-a-year Whitgift School (pictured) in Croydon, south London

‘Every single student who goes to that school is expected to come up with straight As.

‘But even within that school, we formed a ghetto very, very quickly amongst our ethnicities because, even though these kids came from very well-off families, they still had an intense level of racism.

‘Especially the rugby lads, who were known to be extremely racist because they were built like tanks, all of them. Us small Asians, five foot nothing, would not stand a chance against them.’

Mr Qureshi, speaking to American academics four years ago - a transcript of which has now surfaced - continued: ‘We formed cliques very quickly.

‘The Chinese, the blacks, the Pakistanis, and the Indians, we would all be together in the same crowds. We would move around in the same circles.

‘Many of the white kids would be coming from very rich areas, and we would be taking the bus.

Terrorist: Mohammed Emwazi was suddenly unmasked last week as the Islamic State killer Jihadi John

‘Their parents would be picking them up in their Bentleys, and their Rolls-Royces, and their Aston Martins from the front of the school.

‘We would be going to bus stop at the back of the school and going back down to our area, which was not so affluent. In fact, there was a bus stop in Croydon, which is on our way back home.

Us small Asians, five foot nothing, would not stand a chance against them Asim Qureshi

We used to call this bus stop Terminal Three. In Heathrow Airport, Terminal Three is the terminal that all the ethnic minorities take to go back to their countries of origin.’

Mr Qureshi added: ‘Sports was one of the things that helped get me through in many ways. I played squash at a county level.’

He said that after his GCSEs his parents could no longer afford the Whitgift fees so instead sent him to grammar school Wilson’s, in nearby Wallington, Surrey.

In marked contrast to the public school, he said, the races mixed freely.

Mr Qureshi continued: ‘When I turned up, I came with the same kind of anti-white racist attitude that I had developed in Whitgift because I felt that all white people must be like this.

Outspoken: Mr Qureshi has known Emwazi for years, and has previously been caught on camera urging Muslims to support jihad during a rally the American embassy in London (pictured)

‘What was amazing is how that was broken down completely. For the first time in my life I had white friends. For the first time in my life I could relate to white people.’

After ‘doing not very well’ at A-levels – spending much of his time listening to ‘hardcore hip hop’ - Mr Qureshi went on to study law at London Guildhall University, which he described as ‘not a great university but I did enjoy my time there’.

The Chinese, the blacks, the Pakistanis, and the Indians, we would all be together in the same crowds Asim Qureshi

While a student he said he ‘began to choose an Islamic identity’ for himself.

The Whitgift headmaster from before Mr Qureshi started until today has been Dr Christopher Barnett – who says in his welcome to prospective pupils the school staff ‘welcome boys from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds’, and ‘regard the diversity and richness that this brings as a real strength of the school.’

He was unavailable for comment last night. The historic school was founded in 1596 by Queen Elizabeth I’s last Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift.