“On behalf of the United States Department of Justice, I write to give a guarantee that if the United Kingdom requests our mutual legal assistance, the United States will not seek the death penalty in any prosecution it may bring against Alexanda Kotey or El Shafee. Elsheikh, and if imposed, the death penalty will not be carried out, “Attorney General William Barr wrote in a letter to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The ISIS members – originally a group of four men – were called the Beatles because of their British accents and are believed to be responsible for several high-profile hostage executions, some of which they videotaped.
They are part of an ISIS execution cell accused by the State Department of “holding and beheading about two dozen hostages,” including James Foley, American journalist Steven Sotloff and American aid worker Peter Kassig.
In 2015, one of the Beatles was assassinated and another was arrested and eventually put on trial in Turkey. Kotey and Elsheikh were taken prisoner in Syria in 2018. The UK fought all men of citizenship as far back as 2015, and it now refuses to put Kotey and Elsheikh on trial, citing the legal complications of repatriating former citizens.
The US has for the most part opposed the capture of non-US citizens who fought for ISIS. If Barr succeeds in prosecuting Kotey and Elsheikh in US courts, it would be the first time the US has prosecuted non-US citizens for fighting for the terrorist organization.
The two ISIS members are being held by the U.S. military in Iraq, where they were transferred between several high-profile ISIS prisoners to U.S. military custody, after Turkey launched a military invasion of northern Syria in 2019, causing the concerned concerns about the security of the operated prisons by the local Syrian allies of America.
Barr’s letter said that if the UK Government did not provide the US with the information and evidence necessary to assist the prosecution of ISIS members by October 15, “then it should be clearly understood that the United States will move forward with plans to bring Kotey and Elsheikh to Iraq for prosecution in Iraqi justice. “
Many ISIS members tried in Iraqi courts have been sentenced to death.
“Extremely cruel”
The UK had previously moved to share the information needed to prosecute the couple without guarantees that the US would not seek the death penalty. That attempt was blocked following a challenge pending in a UK court.
Kotey has been accused by the U.S. State Department of having “probably been involved in the group’s executions and exceptionally brutal torture” of Western journalists and hostage-takers.
Elsheikh “was said to have earned a reputation for waterboarding, ridiculous executions and crucifixions,” according to the state.
Another member of the execution cells, nicknamed Jihadi John, was assassinated in 2015 in an American airstrip.
CNN’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.
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