British Islamic State Duo Questions Attempts For US Trial

Two Britons who are accused of being members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) cell nicknamed 'The Beatles' have questioned attempts to have them tried in the United States.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are said to have been members of the four-man cell of IS executioners in Syria and Iraq, responsible for killing a series of high-profile Western captives. 

They were captured in January and could be sent to the US for trial after the UK dropped its usual demand for a guarantee that the death penalty would not be imposed.

Speaking to the BBC from a jail in Syria, El Shafee Elsheikh said a suggestion of the pair being stripped of their citizenship "has not been confirmed".

He also questioned why the British government would want a British citizen to be tried in America.

The pair, along with Aine Davis and Mohammed Emwazi - who was nicknamed 'Jihadi John' - are thought to be part of the group named after the '60s band 'The Beatles' because of their English accents.

Emwazi, who was killed in a US air strike in 2015, appeared in a number of videos in which captives, including British aid workers David Haines, Alan Henning and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were killed.

In May 2017, Davis was convicted of being a member of a terrorist organisation and jailed for seven-and-a-half years at a court in Silivri, Turkey.

When asked about Emwazi, Mr Kotey told the BBC that "he was a friend of mine" and "I took a position of not speaking of him at all in a negative way".

Last month, the Home Office said it had agreed to a "short-term pause" of the mutual legal assistance (MLA) process with the US over the two men after a request from lawyers acting for one of the men.

British personnel are currently part of Operation Shader, the UK's contribution to the fight against IS which is now approaching its fourth year: