Two ISIS ‘Beatles’ Jihadis Apologize for Their Role in Execution Group

Samuel Allegri
By Samuel Allegri
October 11, 2019US News
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Two ISIS ‘Beatles’ Jihadis Apologize for Their Role in Execution Group
Syrians flee shelling by Turkish forces in Ras al Ayn, northeast Syria, on Oct. 9, 2019. (Baderkhan Ahmad/AP Photo)

Two British jihadists, members of an ISIS cell called “The Beatles,” were taken into U.S. custody.

They will likely go on trial in Virginia, a state that has the death penalty, reported the Times of London.

In 2014 and 2015, the terrorist group kidnapped over 20 western hostages, many of whom they tortured during captivity. It also beheaded seven journalists, aid workers, and a group of Syrian soldiers.

Alexanda Kotey, 35, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 31, were interviewed by ITV News a week before being transferred to U.S. military custody.

They were taken from a Kurdish jail to prevent any possible escape during Turkey’s military activity in Syria.

Kotey was interviewed first by an English media reporter, who asked if he would apologize for the death of Bethany Haines’ father, who had been with the reporter in Syria before the interview.

Koty was repeatedly asked if he would apologize to Bethany Haines. He replied, “What I will say is that I regret—that I’m sad for her that that was the fate of her father.”

“That’s not something that I would have wished for,” he said.

“It’s not something that I’m in agreement with, and if there was anything that I had done which may have lead or caused some kind of distress to her or her father while he was in detention, then I apologize for that.”

When asked what he would say to Bethany, Kotey shook his head and said that he’s already said what he had to say; he was then repeatedly pressed by the reporter.

“I find your line of questioning irritating,” Kotey said at one point in the interview.

“I’m the wrong person to ask. If I had information about that, then we wouldn’t be sitting here having this discussion,” he said.

“You can believe it or not, it’s not going to change anything.”

The other captive, Elsheikh, said that he merely dealt with “emails, logistics, moving people around.”

He said that he couldn’t give answers about the remains of Haines, and when asked if he had Haines captive, answered, “When you’re driving a van, you don’t do a headcount. It’s not your job; your job is to drive a van.”

When pressed to answer if he was involved in the “detention and captivity of David Haines,” Elsheikh replied, “No. When you word your statement that I was involved in the detention and captivity, it would mean that I captured him and guarded him and held him. It’s not true. I didn’t do any of that,” he said, “I had an involvement, an interaction with David Haines and others during their detention and captivity, yes.”

According to the Daily Caller, the Justice Department’s plans to bring the two men to trial in Virginia has been delayed due to a lawsuit filed by Elskeih’s mother regarding whether the British government can share evidence with the United States.

President Trump wrote on Twitter on Oct. 10, regarding their capture, “In case the Kurds or Turkey lose control, the United States has already taken the 2 ISIS militants tied to beheadings in Syria, known as the Beetles, out of that country and into a secure location controlled by the U.S. They are the worst of the worst!”

Justin Morgan contributed to this report.

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