British IS Beatles set to be charged in US over kidnapping and killing of Western hostages

Alexanda Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, will be brought to the US for trial

Credit: AP

British Islamic State militants dubbed The Beatles are set to be indicted in the US over the kidnapping and killing of Western hostages, The Telegraph understands.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, from London, who are accused of being complicit in the murders of 27 people, are expected to be formally charged by the US Department of Justice later on Wednesday.

The pair will be flown in the coming weeks to the US from al-Asad air base in Iraq, where they have been held for the past year, according to a US source with knowledge of the case.

Kotey, 36, and ElSheikh, 32, who have had their British citizenship revoked by the Home Office, will be prosecuted in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, which handles high profile national security cases.

The source said they will likely face charges including conspiracy to commit homicide, hostage-taking resulting in death, and kidnapping resulting in homicide.

It is not clear if the men will be directly implicated in the capture and killing of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, two victims of the four-man cell of jihadists.

They are alleged to have detained or killed Western hostages in Syria between 2014 and 2015, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. The fourth member of the group is Aine Davis, who is in prison in Turkey.

Former hostages accused the men of regularly subjecting them to beatings during their time held in a prison run by Islamic State (IS) jihadists in the Syrian city of Raqqa, as well as waterboarding and mock executions.

“We appreciate Britain’s providing the evidence in support of prosecution and we look forward to seeing these defendants in a US courtroom to face justice in the near future,” Marc Raimondi, Justice Department spokesman, said on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

The move had been held up by disagreements between the US and the UK as to whether the latter would allow the men to stand trial in the US over objection over the death penalty.

The mother of ElSheikh had sought to block a US prosecution because of the prospect of execution if convicted. She lost her appeal at the High Court after Bill Barr, US Attorney General, gave assurances that he would not seek the death penalty for the men.

Last month the UK handed over vital evidence on Kotey and ElSheikh, which is thought to include intercepted communications, interviews with victims and witness testimony, paving the way for charges.

Should the men be found guilty in court, they could face life sentences in the notorious “supermax” prison, formally known as the US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility, in Florence, Colorado.