Mother of ISIS Beatle ‘George’ wins Supreme Court challenge

The Supreme Court has today overruled the UK Government’s decision to share evidence of a suspected ISIS terrorist and a second alleged member of his cell with US authorities without assurances they would not face the death penalty.

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are accused of belonging to a brutal four-man cell of IS executioners in Syria – nicknamed The Beatles because of their British accents – responsible for killing a number of high-profile Western captives.

The pair were captured in January 2018, sparking an international row over whether they should be returned to the UK for trial or face justice in another jurisdiction.

Elsheikh’s mother, Maha Elgizouli, brought a challenge to the decision of then Home Secretary Sajid Javid to share evidence with American authorities without seeking assurances the men would not be executed if convicted in the US.

Today, a panel of seven Supreme Court justices – led by retired president Lady Hale – overruled the Government’s decision to share intelligence with Washington.

Last July, Ms Elgizouli’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald QC told the Supreme Court that she ‘recognises the enormity of the crimes alleged against her son, Shafee Elsheikh, and against his alleged accomplice Alexanda Kotey’.

Mr Fitzgerald told the court that the Crown Prosecution Service had previously concluded there was ‘insufficient evidence’ to prosecute the pair in the UK.  

However, he said there was a ‘historical decision in February 2016’ that there was enough evidence to charge Kotey with five offences of murder and eight of hostage taking, and to prosecute Elsheikh for membership of a terrorist organisation.

He added: ‘It defies all common sense and legal logic that they can be tried in America on our evidence, but they can’t be tried here on our evidence.’

Sir James Eadie QC, representing the Home Office, argued that Mr Javid’s decision was made ‘after the most careful consideration’, and in circumstances where the ‘only prospect of Elsheikh facing justice’ was if he were tried by a US federal court.

He described the activities of the so-called Beatles, including posting video of nearly 27 victims being beheaded online, as among the worst terror crimes imaginable. 

Ms Elgizouli appealed against a High Court ruling made in January by two leading judges, who concluded Mr Javid’s decision was not unlawful.

In June 2018, Mr Javid authorised the sharing of 600 witness statements gathered by the Metropolitan Police under a ‘mutual legal assistance’ agreement in a letter to then US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Mr Javid faced intense criticism after the letter to Mr Sessions was leaked, with MPs accusing him of breaching the UK’s long-standing opposition to the death penalty.

Then Prime Minister Theresa May supported Mr Javid’s original decision, which was also backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he was Foreign Secretary.

Kotey and Elsheikh, who were raised in the UK but have been stripped of their British citizenship, were captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2018.

They are said to have been members of the cell that also included Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, who was killed in a US air strike in 2015.

More to follow.