IS ‘Beatles’ won’t face dying penalty in US

The US has informed the UK that two Islamic State suspects won’t face the dying penalty if convicted of the killings of Western hostages in Iraq and Syria.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are accused of being the final two members of an IS cell dubbed “The Beatles” due to their UK accents.

The US sought the UK’s assist in the case however a authorized struggle over using the dying penalty has stymied co-operation.

The US has now made clear the 2 won’t be executed if discovered responsible.

In a letter to House Secretary Priti Patel, US Legal professional Basic William Barr stated the dying penalty won’t be pursued in opposition to the 2 males within the occasion of their convictions “if the UK agrees to show over very important proof”.

The pair, who’re in US army custody in Iraq, had been British residents, however have been stripped of their UK nationality.

They’re alleged to have been members of an IS kidnap gang behind the killings of quite a few Western hostages, together with American journalists and British assist employees, in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The victims had been beheaded and their deaths filmed and broadcast on social media.

The UK believes the lads can’t be legally extradited to the UK, however in 2018 it emerged that the US was getting ready the bottom to prosecute the lads – and that it had requested the UK for info that will assist convict them.

In response, ministers stated they’d share intelligence, with out opposing a dying penalty sentence.

However co-operation with the US was halted after the mom of El Shafee Elsheikh launched a authorized problem, arguing the UK’s place was in breach of its internationally recognised opposition to capital punishment.

Authorized battle

Prior to now Britain has sought assurances from international governments that the dying penalty wouldn’t be utilized in instances the place the UK supplied info or extradited suspects.

The Supreme Courtroom has dominated that the US authorities’s demand to make use of essential proof from the UK within the case was illegal.

On the time, the UK stated it was “a long-standing place” to oppose the dying penalty however added that on this case it was “a precedence to guarantee that these males face felony prosecution”.

Nonetheless, the UK has made clear that if the pair had been despatched to the controversial US army jail Guantanamo Bay – the place suspects have been detained with out trial – the UK would withhold intelligence.

The BBC’s safety correspondent Frank Gardner stated the US had been warning that if the problem was not settled by the center of October, the 2 males could be handed over to the Iraqi authorities.

A number of kinfolk of the murdered western hostages have stated they need the lads to face a good trial, moderately than the dying penalty.