Their British accent, detected by their Western hostages at the time, earned them the nickname “Beatles” of the Islamic State group.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh should soon be sued by the United States.

In a statement released Tuesday, September 22, the US Department of Justice said it was "determined to hold these two accused to account and to obtain justice for the victims of their terrorist activities."

Captured in January 2018 by Kurdish forces in Syria, these two jihadists were placed under the control of the American army in October 2019 in Iraq, due to the Turkish offensive in northern Syria.

Their unit kidnapped foreign journalists, tortured and beheaded some captives, including Briton David Haines and American journalist James Foley, killed in 2014.

A particular cruelty

The "Beatles of IS" stood out from other jihadists by their cruelty with hostages: beatings, electric shocks, simulations of drowning (a technique called "waterboarding") or even mock execution, including a false crucifixion , were part of their methods.

They beheaded 27 hostages, including seven British, American and Japanese, as well as 18 members of the Syrian army.

Deprived of their British nationality, they were part of a group of four men who had in common to have been radicalized in the mosques of West London.

The most famous of them was Mohammed Emwazi, aka "Jihadi John", killed by a drone in 2015.

UK cooperation

The United Kingdom transmitted Tuesday the elements claimed by Washington against Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh.

The mother of the latter had challenged in the High Court of London the decision, at the end of August, of the British Minister of the Interior to grant the request for American legal assistance, but his appeal was rejected by the British magistrates.

In the wake of the decision, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a tweet "delighted" to announce that the requested evidence has "finally been transmitted to the United States".

"I sincerely hope that justice will now be served for the victims and their families," she added.

The latter welcomed this decision which represents for them "a considerable result".

"We have always wanted these two men to be brought to justice in a fair trial to answer for the facts with which they are accused," said relatives of David Haines and Alan Henning, a British hostage executed in 2014, in a report. press release from the Hostage international association.

"At times we have been absolutely desperate to know if the justice system will succeed in bringing them to justice," the sister of John Cantlie, a photojournalist kidnapped in Syria in 2012, also said Wednesday morning on BBC Radio 4. " What has always been terribly important to us is that there is a fair trial, ”she added.

"Obtain justice"

For its part, the US Department of Justice welcomed the transmission of these elements and the fact that London has "confirmed its commitment to cooperate with our efforts to investigate and prosecute the two terrorists currently under military detention".

The United States had filed in 2015 a request for mutual legal assistance to the British authorities to obtain evidence against the two men.

But in July 2018, London announced a "break" in this cooperation.

The British government was then met with a shower of criticism for failing to ask that the death penalty be spared them if they were tried, a departure from its principled opposition to the death penalty.

At the end of August, the United States assured that they would spare the death penalty for the two jihadists.

With AFP

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