UK will allow US to execute terrorists known as the ‘IS Beatles’ if they are extradited
Two men are suspected of being militants nicknamed ‘the Beatles’ who kidnapped and murdered Western hostages
The British government would not object to Washington seeking the death penalty for two British Islamic State militants if they are extradited to the United States, a UK Home Office minister said on Monday.
Security minister Ben Wallace said Britain was prepared to waive its long-standing objection to executions in the case of the captured fighters, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh.
British ‘IS Beatles’ say hostage beheadings were a ‘mistake’
The men are suspected of being two of four militants, nicknamed “the Beatles” because of their English accents, who took part in the kidnapping, torture and murder of Western hostages.
“In this instance, and after carefully considered advice, the government took the rare decision not to require assurances in this case,” Wallace told the lower house of Parliament.
This issue is going to haunt the government
His statement followed a leaked letter published in the The Daily Telegraph from British Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
The two suspects were captured in Syria in January by a US-backed Syrian force, and Britain and the United States have been in discussions about how and where they should face justice.
According to the Telegraph, Javid wrote to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said Britain was not intending to request that the two men be sent to the United Kingdom, saying a successful prosecution in the United States was more likely.
Furthermore, he said Britain would not insist on guarantees the men would not be executed.
“I am of the view that there are strong reasons for not requiring a death penalty assurance in this specific case, so no such assurances will be sought,” the letter said.
Five top IS leaders captured by Iraqi and US-backed Syrian forces
“As you are aware, it is the long held position of the UK to seek death penalty assurances, and our decision in this case does not reflect a change in our policy on assistance in US death penalty cases generally, nor the UK Government’s stance on the global abolition of the death penalty.”
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokeswoman said Britain wanted the militants to be tried in the most appropriate jurisdiction.
The opposition Labour Party accused Javid of “secretly and unilaterally” abandoning Britain’s opposition to the death penalty.
“By doing so he is not just playing with the lives of these particular terrorists but those of other Britons – including potentially innocent ones – all over the world,” said Labour’s Shami Chakrabarti.
The government’s stance also drew criticism from its own party.
Two British Islamic State fighters, known as 'the Beatles', are captured
Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve asked if there was a precedent for the government deviating from its normal policy and why it had not asked for an assurance from the US.
“Those are the two key questions and until they are answered I have to say ... this issue is going to continue to haunt the government,” he said.
The most notorious of the four so-called “Beatles” was Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, who is believed to have been killed in a US-British missile strike in 2015.
He became a public face of Islamic State and appeared in videos showing the murders of American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, US aid worker Peter Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and other hostages.
The mother of James Foley said she did not want the men to be executed if found guilty.
“I think that would just make them martyrs in their twisted ideology,” Diane Foley told BBC radio. “I would like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives.”
