An alleged member of the Islamic State (IS) organization's 'Beatles', a cell that specializes in capturing, torturing and executing Western hostages, has been charged with multiple terrorist offenses after his arrest in the Kingdom United, the British police announced Thursday, August 11.

Aine Leslie Davis, 38, is due to appear in court at Westminster Magistrates Court in the morning, Scotland Yard said in a statement.

Arrested in Turkey in November 2015, he had since been imprisoned there for acts of terrorism and was arrested last night at London Luton airport.

According to the British counter-terrorism prosecution, he was deported by the Turkish authorities. 

The four members of the "Beatles", so nicknamed because of their British accent, are accused of having kidnapped at least 27 journalists and humanitarian workers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, New Zealand , Russia and Japan.

They are also suspected of having tortured and killed, including by beheading, American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

IS had released propaganda videos showing their executions on social media.

Two lawsuits in the United States

Two of the "Beatles", Alexanda Kotey (38) and El Shafee Elsheikh (34), former British nationals, were arrested in January 2018 by a Kurdish militia in Syria and handed over to US forces in Iraq before being sent to the UK. 

They were finally extradited in 2020 to the United States, to Virginia, on charges of taking hostages, conspiring to kill American citizens and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

Alexanda Kotey pleaded guilty to her involvement in the murders in September and was sentenced to life in prison in April.

As for El Shafee Elsheikh, he was convicted on all counts in April and will be sentenced next week.

The fourth Beatles executioner, Mohamed Emwazi, was killed by a US drone in Syria in 2015.

In 2014, Aine Leslie Davis' wife, Amal El-Wahabi, became the first person in the UK to be convicted of funding IS jihadists after they tried to send her husband 20,000 euros to Syria. .

During her trial, after which she was imprisoned for 28 months, Aine Leslie Davis was portrayed as a drug trafficker before her departure for Syria.

With AFP  

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