IS’S ‘Beatle’: Traffic tickets have no basis in law, but slavery is okay

NEW DELHI: British militant El Shafee Elsheikh, who was part of a notorious Islamic State cell, said he felt traffic tickets in the now-crumbled caliphate had “no basis in the law of Allah”, but appeared to defend the imprisonment of Yazidi women.

Elsheikh and the other members of his cell — nicknamed the Beatles because of their British accents — are accused of beheading seven US, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers. They were captured in January by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

When asked in an interview for Dubai-based Arabic Al Aan TV as to what he felt about being dubbed “the Beatles of Islamic State”, he said “John Lennon won’t like it much,” but added he didn’t listen to any music.

Elsheikh had been a mechanic in London before he travelled to Syria, where he “earned a reputation for waterboarding, mock executions and crucifixions while serving as an (IS) jailer,” according to an AP report.

He said there were certain things about IS laws he did not agree with. “Traffic tickets. Such things have no basis in the law of Allah.”

But when specifically asked about the imprisonment of Yazidi women by IS, he said: “You have to understand that just because America decided to abolish something... doesn’t mean that every person has to run behind America and say ‘this is now an abominable act’...the reality is that slavery has been around since humans have been around.”htc