Trump administration ‘considering sending alleged Isil Beatles fighters to Guantanamo Bay’
Donald Trump’s administration is considering sending two suspected Isil ‘Beatles’ fighters to Guantanamo Bay rather than having them face the death penalty, NBC News has reported.
Five unnamed US officials told the broadcaster that the jihadists Alexanda Kotey and Shafee El-Sheikh could be sent to the infamous Cuban detention centre.
Both men were allegedly part of the notorious terror cell dubbed ‘The Beatles’ who beheaded US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
They grew up in west London before fleeing to Syria to join Isil, but were captured, detained and have been stripped of their British citizenship as they await their fate.
The UK government decided to waive the usual demand for an assurance execution will not be considered when it agreed to hand over intelligence to help prosecute the men in America.
The UK’s general policy remains that Guantanamo should close. A Home Office source said on Thursday that the UK will encourage the Trump administration not to send the men to the facility.
Debate over the two jihadists is part of a wider discussion America is having with allies about how to bring Isil fighters captured in the Middle East to justice.
The Trump administration wants countries to take back their citizens who went to fight for Isil and try them at home – something that has faced substantial resistance from some governments, including Britain.
NBC reported that the US government is thinking of sending hundreds of captured Isil jihadists to a prison in Iraq amid fears that the Syrian detention centre that currently holds them could be vulnerable to escape attempts.
A Home Office spokesman reiterated the UK government’s “long-standing position" that "the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay should close”.
A US State Department spokesman said: "We are pursuing all diplomatic avenues and discussions are ongoing. We have no further specifics to provide at this time."