America offers better chance of bringing ISIS ‘Beatles’ to justice
and in July it was revealed that Home Secretary Sajid Javid had written to US authorities saying that the UK would not demand any assurances that Kotey and Elsheikh be spared execution if they stand trial in the US.
There are no words to describe the savageness the pair, along with two other Brits, are alleged to have inflicted on their captives.
The men are accused of the sickening beheading of Brits Alan Henning and David Haines as well as three Americans, after producing Hollywood-style videos of their murders.
Now, after their capture, Elsheikh and Kotey, like cornered rats, insist their legal rights should be respected wherever they are brought to trial. No such respect of human rights was shown to those who managed to survive captivity at the hands of ‘The Beatles’.
Upon his release, Spanish hostage Javier Espinosa revealed that the ‘Beatles’ had been particularly sadistic. They used captives as “toys” to keep themselves entertained, often selecting a “chosen one” for a nocturnal beating.
American journalist James Foley and the British reporter John Cantlie were forced to rewrite and perform Hotel California as “Hotel Osama”. “Welcome to lovely hotel Osama, such a lovely place,” the captured men sang to their torturers.
Espinosa recalled that ‘George’ (alleged to be Elsheikh), was the most violent ‘Beatle’, who warned: “Anyone who does not know the words, I will kick to death.”
Several MPs, including shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, have described the fact these men could face the death penalty as “abhorrent and shameful”.
I imagine most Britons think Sajid Javid is absolutely right to prioritise the rights of the slaughtered men and their grieving families over the rights of the two accused terrorists, both raised in west London.
I for one, like the families of the Americans killed at the hands of ‘The Beatles’, agree with the longstanding British government position that it would be a mistake to send alleged killers like these to Guantánamo Bay or to seek the death penalty in court.
Either path would make them martyrs in the eyes of their fanatical, misled comrades in arms – the worst outcome.
But what is truly “abhorrent and shameful” is that there is a better chance of ‘The “Beatles’ getting the punishment they deserve in another country than they would in the UK.
The trials and convictions of Abu Hamza and Abid Naseer in the US were an embarrassment to our own legal system, which over years wasted millions in taxpayers’ money as we danced to their tunes.
At least if the suspected ‘Beatles’ were tried in America there would be every chance of a quick ‘Hello, Goodbye’ as they’d be locked up forever.
After their capture, Elsheikh and Kotey, like cornered rats, insist their legal rights are respected
NEVER have the differences between bully and hero been more devastatingly clear than when John McCain passed away.
As former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama took swipes at Donald Trump during the former prisoner of war’s funeral, the US leader ashamedly was taking swipes on the golf course. McCain’s wish that Trump not to be invited to his service spoke volumes about his feelings on the current leadership.
Instead, it was left to Trump’s flunky, Vice President Mike Pence, to speak on behalf of the White House.
His speech was about as valuable as his name, Pence, equivalent to a US penny. In other words, worthless. But the side-eye McCain’s daughter Meghan threw at him as he spoke was priceless.