The US has promised not to prosecute the death penalty against two British Isis members accused of participating in the beheading of Western hostages, in exchange for UK co-operation with the prosecution.
The pledge was given in a letter from US Attorney General William Barr to UK Secretary of State Priti Patel in the case of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, members of the group. Beatles “by British Isis members, who were taken prisoner by Syrian Kurds and then handed over to American custody in October last year. They are still being held in a foreign institution in the US.
Barr’s offer came with an ultimatum: if the United Kingdom failed to hand over evidence in the case by October 15, the two detainees would be handed over to Iraqi justice.
“Further delay is no longer possible if Kotey and Elsheikh are to be tried in the United States, and the further delay is an injustice to the families of the victims,” Barr said in a letter to Patel, who was seen by the Guardian. ‘Kotey and Elsheikh are currently being held by U.S. military authorities in a foreign theater of military operations, and it is not going to stay to keep them there for a long period of time. Final decisions must be made on this matter. ”
British co-operation with the US prosecution was blocked in March under a ruling by the UK Supreme Court and is still in effect, UK officials pointed out.
“The government’s priority has always been to protect national security and provide justice for the victims and their families,” said a UK Home Office spokesman. ‘We continue to work closely with international partners to ensure that those who have committed crimes in the name of Daesh [Isis] be brought to justice. ”
Kotey and Elsheikh are part of a group of four accused of being involved in the filmed beheading of two British aid workers, David Haines and Alan Henning, as well as two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
The group’s leader, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a US drone strike in 2015, while another, Aine Davis, was captured in Turkey and imprisoned for more than seven years in 2017 for membership in a terrorist organization.
Nicholas Henin, a former French hostage-taker Isis, welcomed the news that the death sentence would be handed down, and said on Twitter that it was “great news that opens the way for a trial in the US”.
