Isis ‘Beatles’ face US trial – but not the death penalty
TWO British Islamic State fanatics known as the Beatles are set to face justice after a ban on UK evidence being shared with US prosecutors was lifted yesterday.
Alexanda Kotey, 36, and ElShafee El- Sheikh, 32, could spend the rest of their lives in an American ‘supermax’ prison if they are convicted for their roles in beheading Western hostages.
In March this year, El-Sheikh’s mother won a legal challenge in London’s Supreme Court seeking to block his transfer to the US on the grounds he could face the death penalty.
The Supreme Court ruled that the UK Government could not share information with the US authorities because the pair could have faced the death penalty, which is banned in the UK.
However, last week US Attorney General William Barr dropped the threat of capital punishment, in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, paving the way for the accused terrorists to stand trial in America. With this assurance, the Supreme Court yesterday lifted its order stopping the Government sharing the evidence it has.
The men, named after the Beatles because of their English accents, are in US custody in Iraq. They are accused of being complicit in 27 murders, including of the British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and four Americans.
Mr Barr set the UK Government a two-week deadline to hand over the evidence. If British authorities did not supply the evidence needed, Mr Barr said the pair would be transferred to Iraqi custody.
Facing justice in Iraq would have made execution more likely as IS terrorists have been sentenced to hang after very short trials. Both men have already been stripped of their British citizenship and are banned from returning to the country.
Is it understood the British Government wants them tried in the US as it is thought there is a better chance of conviction.
Kotey and El-Sheikh were captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2018.
Other members of the IS cell included Mohammed Emwazi, the group’s ringleader, also known as ‘Jihadi John’, who was killed in a US air strike in 2015, while Aine Davis is in jail in Turkey for terror offences.
The earlier Supreme Court ruling said the Government broke the law by sending key evidence to the US. It said the Home Office breached data protection laws by handing over the information, as they did not seek assurances that the pair would not be executed.