[ad_1]
The British Home Secretary sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, declaring that his government would abandon a request. that two suspected militants of the Islamic State be spared from the death penalty if they are convicted before a US court, with the apparent intention of resolving a stalemate between the countries to be entrusted with The Guard of Men
The sessions sparked a tumult in Britain when it was featured in the Sunday Telegraph, a British newspaper. In response, Prime Minister Theresa May, through a spokeswoman, said the government's opposition to the death penalty remained unchanged.
This longstanding policy against the death penalty has been viewed as an obstacle to prosecution in the United States. and El Shafee Elsheikh, who allegedly belonged to a four-member Islamic State cell and played a key role in the torture and murder of American and British hostages. The men, whose British accents gave the cell its nickname the Beatles, were captured and detained in Syria.
U.S. Prosecutors demanded that the British share the evidence they 've gained, including a voice analysis that could help Kotey' s identification. But the British government had hesitated to share evidence without having the certainty that it would not be used in a lawsuit that could result in a death sentence.
[U.S. and Britain are divided over what to do with captured ISIS fighters]
Although some May Conservative government officials are not opposed to the death penalty, the British public firmly against it. To reassure the public, Security Minister Ben Wallace told Parliament Monday: "Our long-standing position on the use of the death penalty has not changed.The United Kingdom has a long-standing policy opposition to the death penalty in principle, regardless of nationality. "
The two activists, whose British citizenship was revoked on their alleged affiliation with the cell, are being held in Syria, where they have been captured in February by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, the United States' main ally in Syria.
"I am of the opinion that there are good reasons not to require a death sentence in this particular case According to the Telegraph, Javid wrote in the letter
that May's office had also told the newspaper that there was no contradiction between the government's opposition to the death penalty and Javid's decision not to seek
"C & # 39; an extraordinary declaration on the reluctance of the British to pursue these men, that they are ready to withdraw the demands they have imposed on the United States. Said Nicholas J. Lewin, former counter-terrorism attorney in Manhattan. "It strikes me as a finely honed effort to get the United States to take these men and pursue them."
Some relatives of the victims, including James Foley's mother, spoke out against the death penalty, saying that they The Telegraph also reported that, according to other documents, the British authorities have estimated that Kotey and Elsheikh could be sent to the US Army Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay and that this would not be the case. formally opposed.
Wallace, the Minister of Security, also seemed to be challenging this possibility. "The long-standing position of the British government is that the Guantanamo Bay detention center should close. When we share evidence with [United States] this must be done with the express purpose of advancing a criminal prosecution and we have clearly made it known to the United States "he told parliament.clear what impact Javid's letter to Sessions had on the Trump administration's deliberations on How to Manage Activists.Although career attorneys think they can win at trial, Sessions personally favors sending men to Guantanamo.And the position of the Departments of State and Defense was that Britain, as a country of origin militants, should take them for prosecution.
The National Security Council refused to discuss the issue: " President Trump s & # 3 9 is committed to using all available tools to defeat terrorism and protect the homeland of the United States and its interests abroad. Decisions on the disposal of captured terrorists will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the legal requirements and facts of each case. "
A spokesman for the Department of Justice also declined to comment on the case. " President and his national security team will pursue option that best protects security interests the United States, "said spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle
Christopher Costa, who was previously Trump's chief director for counterterrorism, and who now heads the International Spy Museum, said : "My result is that these individuals must face justice, and currently the best form of justice would be the US criminal justice system."
Matt Zapotosky and Alice Crites at this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
