ISIS ‘Beatles’ to be transferred to US for trial
Finally! Two ISIS ‘Beatles’ who are in military custody in Iraq will be transferred to the US in coming days to stand trial for hostage executions
- Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh to be transferred from US custody in Iraq to mainland America
- They will likely face trial in Alexandria, Va., after charges are filed
- The couple are accused of having played a role in the execution of two dozen hostages, including four Americans.
- They have claimed in the past that they only tortured the hostages and did not kill them
- British authorities have handed over evidence that will help US prosecutions against the couple
- AG Bill Barr also agreed not to impose the death penalty on either of the men with the agreement of the families of their victims.
- They are part of a group of four British terrorists known as the ISIS Beatles
- The most famous – Mohammed Emwazi aka Jihadi John – was killed in a US drone strike in 2016
Two ISIS fighters in overseas custody, known as one half of the “Beatles” terror group, will be transferred to the United States in the coming days to be held for the killing of American hostages in Syria and Iraq .
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are both British, but renounced their citizenship when they joined Islamic State in Syria in 2014.
They murdered two dozen hostages, including Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller, and at least eight other hostages from different countries, including the UK.
Foley and Sotloff were journalists working in the area and Kassig and Mueller were aid workers.
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, shown in March 2019, will soon be transferred from military custody in Iraq to the United States for trial
The defendants claim that they participated in their torture and the extraction of information, but that they did not participate in their executions.
They have been held by the US military in Iraq since October 2019, but the families of their US victims have long called for them to be brought to US soil for trial.
The British authorities were reluctant.
They agreed to turn over evidence to the United States that would help with a prosecution that was handed down two weeks ago.
AG Bill Barr also agreed not to impose the death penalty on either man with the agreement of the families of their victims, who said they would rather learn the truth about what happened to their loved ones through through a trial.
James Foley and Steven Sotloff were both working as journalists in Syria when they were captured and killed by the couple.
Kayla Mueller was working as a humanitarian volunteer in Syria when she was killed in 2015. Peter Kassig was also killed
None of the men have yet been charged, but charges may include conspiracy to commit murder, hostage taking resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and homicide, according to Justice Department sources quoted by The Washington Post Tuesday.
Their trial is scheduled to take place in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
The most prominent member of the Islamic State Beatles was Mohammed Emwazi, the hooded executioner known as Jihadi John who was filmed slicing the necks of some of the victims in sickening videos that terrified the world in 2014 when ISIS spread them.
He was killed in a US drone strike in 2016. The fourth member is Aine Davis. He is being held in a Turkish prison for terrorism.
Mohamed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, was the most prolific of the Beatles. He was killed in a US drone strike in 2016
Aines Davis, the fourth Beatle, is being held in a Turkish prison for terrorism
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