ISIS ‘Beatles’ hit squad will face US justice after UK court rejects last-ditch appeal

Mother of accused loses legal challenge against transatlantic intelligence-sharing

Alexanda Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh are now set to face trial in the US. Reuters

The mother of one of the alleged ISIS ‘Beatles’ assassination squad has lost her court challenge against the UK interior minister’s decision to share evidence with the US.

Maha Elgizouli, whose son El Shafee Elsheikh is in US custody with his co-accused Alexanda Kotey, brought a judicial review earlier this month over Home Secretary Priti Patel’s decision on August 24 to provide material to the American government under a “mutual legal assistance” request, ahead of an intended prosecution in the US.

Mr Elsheikh and Mr Kotey are accused of belonging to a cell of executioners in Syria – nicknamed The Beatles because of their British accents – who killed western captives.

Ms Elgizouli’s lawyers said Ms Patel’s decision was unlawful as it was incompatible with the Data Protection Act, and asked the court to order that no material should be provided to the US.

But in a ruling on Tuesday, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Garnham rejected the case, saying it was “not properly arguable”.

Dame Victoria said previous expressions of preference as to where a prosecution should take place were of “no relevance” to the issues the court had to decide.

“The conclusion that, even if Mr Elsheikh could be prosecuted in England, it would still be necessary and proportionate to transfer the data to the US authorities remained a conclusion properly open to the Secretary of State,” she said.

The hearing was held urgently as the US government indicated it will transfer the pair to Iraq for trial, where if found guilty they will be executed, if it does not receive all the evidence Britain has on them by October 15.

As a result of the ruling, the evidence requested can now be handed over to the US authorities by the UK Government.

Both men, who are accused of taking part in the torture and murder of western hostages in Iraq and Syria, are being held alongside hundreds of suspected foreign fighters in a Syrian prison run by Kurdish authorities. They have already been stripped of their British citizenship.

They were captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2018, sparking an international row over whether they should be returned to the UK for trial or face justice in another jurisdiction.

In October 2019 they were transferred to the custody of the US military in Iraq and remain in American detention.

Dame Victoria also said in the ruling that the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has concluded there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Elsheikh for “terrorism-related offences”, but that they required either the consent of the Attorney General, Suella Braverman, or her permission for the Department of Public Prosecutions to consent to a prosecution.

But earlier this month the attorney general said “it is simply not possible to give an indication of timescale” as to when she would reach a decision.

In 2016 the DPP ruled there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Kotey – whose whereabouts were then unknown – with five offences of murder and eight of hostage-taking.

Last month American officials revealed, in a letter to Ms Patel from US Attorney General William Barr, that they will not insist on the death penalty for the pair following any prosecution.