Two suspected IS members 'should be tried in the UK', Supreme Court told

They were both captured in January 2018, sparking an international dispute over where the pair should face trial.

Image: The pair are suspected of being part of IS

Supreme Court justices have been told that two suspected IS terrorists should be tried in the UK, rather than the US.
El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are suspected of being part of a four-man terror cell in Syria, known as The Beatles because of their British accents, who are responsible for killing a number of high-profile Western captives.
The pair were raised in the UK but have since been stripped of the citizenship.
They were both captured in January 2018, sparking an international dispute over whether they should be returned to the UK for a trial, or face justice elsewhere.
Elsheikh's mother, Maha Elgizouli, has challenged the decision of Sajid Javid, the former home secretary, to share evidence with US authorities without seeking assurances that the men would not receive the death penalty if they were convicted over there.

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She is appealing against the High Court decision in January that concluded that Mr Javid's decision was not unlawful.

Image: The case is being heard at the Supreme Court

At a Supreme Court hearing in London, Edward Fitzgerald QC said: "Mrs Elgizouli is solely concerned to protect her son from the death penalty.

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"She recognises the enormity of the crimes alleged against her son, Shafee Elsheikh, and against his alleged accomplice Alexanda Kotey.
"She recognises that they should face justice ... but she submits that they should face justice in this country, the country of their past citizenship, the country of two of their alleged victims, and the country which has obtained the main body of evidence against them."
He told the panel of seven justices, led by the court's president Lady Hale, that the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) decision to not prosecute the pair in the UK, after concluding there was "insufficient evidence", is the subject of a separate legal challenge.
Mr Fitzgerald added that, in its response to the challenge, the CPS said it is now of the view that there is enough evidence to charge Kotey with five murders and eight hostage takings, as well as 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."
Both the men have offered to return to the UK, should they be tried here.
Mr Fitzgerald told the court that Mr Javid "privately authorised" the sharing of 600 witness statements that were gathered by the Metropolitan Police with US authorities under a "mutual legal assistance" (MLA) agreement.
He also said that, in bringing her challenge against the "lawfulness and rationality" of the former home secretary's decision, Mrs Elgizouli was asking no more than that Mr Javid should have applied the "settled policy of requiring death penalty assurances in all such cases".
He then added: "Behind that policy lies a long and honourable tradition on the part of this country of rejecting the death penalty as morally wrong in all circumstances."
The QC said that Mr Javid's decision, which was outlined in a letter to former US attorney general Jeff Sessions, was taken against advice from officials that an assurance should be sought.
He said that other former home secretaries Theresa May and Amber Rudd had asked for the assurance in relation to the pair, and that the US had offered a "partial" assurance by offering not to use the evidence directly in their prosecution.
There was also advice from the former British ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, who said that a request for the death penalty assurance would likely "provoke something close to outrage" among members of the Trump administration.
Sir Kim said that there was a risk that US ministers would "wind the president up to the prime minister and, potentially, to hold a grudge".
The hearing is due to continue on Wednesday and the court is expected to give its ruling at a later date.