Isil ‘Beatles’ taken to face trial in America

THE two “Beatles” captured while fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) will face trial in the United States, having been transferred to US custody, The Washington Post has reported.

London-born Alexanda Kotey, 35, and El Shafee Elsheikh, a 31-year-old British man born in Sudan, had been in the custody of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Turkish invasion of the Kurdishheld region, launched yesterday morning, threw into doubt the continued custody of the pair.

A senior US official told the paper that the men had been taken to Iraq. Other officials said they and other highvalue detainees were being placed in US military custody, but could not say where they were being taken.

The pair have been stripped of their British citizenship and the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute them in the UK.

US officials, however, suspect both men “participated in the detention, exploitation and execution of Western detainees”.

Kotey and Elsheikh face the possibility of the death sentence if they are found guilty in a US court.

Their potential transfer to the US has been delayed by Elsheikh’s mother, Maha Elgizouli, who has challenged the British Government’s decision not to prosecute her son in the UK.

She has also sued the Government to block any sharing of evidence with US prosecutors without a legal assurance that her son will not be executed.

“Mrs Elgizouli is solely concerned to protect her son from the death penalty,” said Edward Fitzgerald, the family’s lawyer, in a hearing in July before the Supreme Court in London.

“She recognises that they should

‘She is solely concerned to protect her son from the death penalty … They should face justice in the UK’

face justice. But she submits that they should face justice in this country.”

The State Department, Pentagon and Foreign Office did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation.

Donald Trump announced last night that the US was taking custody of some of the most hardened terrorists.

“We are taking some of the most dangerous Isil fighters out and we’re putting them in different locations where it’s secure,” he said.

“In addition, the Kurds are watching, and if the Kurds don’t watch, Turkey will watch. They don’t want those people out any more than we do.”