Two jihadists from a group known as the Islamic State’s “Beatles ” will be extradited to the United States on Wednesday for trial there, according to a source from the US Justice Department.
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh, known as “George” and “Ringo” (without confirming which is which), referring to the members of the mythical British gang, were part of a unit that kidnapped, tortured, and beheaded several foreigners, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in 2014.
Stripped of British nationality, both were detained by the US military in Iraq.
The FBI has made careful plans to transport the two members to the United States, where they will be charged for the kidnappings and deaths of several Americans, ABC television reported, citing three officials it did not identify.
The captives had nicknamed the terrorist quartet “Beatles” for their British accent to talk about them without their captors understanding the references. US and British authorities have linked the group to 27 murders.
According to US authorities, Kotey and Elsheik have admitted to their involvement in the 2015 kidnapping, rape, and death of Mueller.
In a video recording obtained by the US television network NBC, the two individuals also admitted to hitting Foley, who was brutally beaten on camera by the “Beatles” leader Mohammed Emwazi in 2014.
Sotloff, Kassig, and British rescuers David Haines and Alan Henning were beheaded.
According to US sources, Emwazi was killed in an attack with Hellfire missiles fired in 2015 from an unmanned aircraft (drone) operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The fourth member of the “Beatles”, Aine Lesley Davis, was sentenced in Turkey in 2017 to seven and a half years in prison.
The Department of Justice has arranged for the transfer of the two suspects for trial in Virginia, but the process has been delayed because the mother of one of the defendants initiated a complaint related to evidence that the British authorities have and that is considered crucial in the case from Kotey and Elsheik.
The woman questioned the legality of the British government’s cooperation with the Americans in these cases.
In March, the British Supreme Court of Justice barred cooperation with the United States, and after management in August by the American Secretary of Justice, William Barr, who promised that the suspects, if found guilty, will not face the death penalty, the British Supreme Court changed its mind and began the exchange of evidence.
