ISIS terrorist ‘Jihadi Gringo’ seeks transfer back to UK prison
An ISIS terrorist, part of a beheading gang called ‘The Beatles’, has asked to move back to Britain to be closer to family and friends.
Known to his victims as ‘Jihadi Gringo’, El Shafee Elsheikh grew up in White City, west London, after his family moved from Sudan in 1993 when he was five.
He left the UK in 2012 on a one-way Ryanair ticket and eventually ended up in Syria, where he volunteered to fight for the Islamic State group.
Elsheikh was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal killings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and humanitarian aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller – most were captured in videos released online that shocked the world.
He has now applied to transfer from a high-security jail in Colorado to the UK – despite being stripped of his British citizenship in 2018, the Sun reported.
Bethany Haines, the daughter of one of Elsheikh’s victims, David Haines – who was tortured and starved before being publicly beheaded – branded his bid to move prisons an ‘outrageous insult’.
She added: ‘The idea someone this evil could be back in a British prison makes my skin crawl.
‘He left this country to bring terror to the world and inflicted the most appalling treatment on my father and others when he held him captive.
‘He is one of the worst terrorists to come from this country and it is an outrageous insult to our families for him to apply to return to one of our prisons for an easier life.’
Mr Haines, of Perth in Scotland, was abducted while working at a refugee camp in Syria in 2013 and held hostage by ‘The Beatles’.
A horrific 2014 video showed the victim kneeling next to Emwazi – known as ‘Jihadi John’ – and eventually beheaded.
A US notice sent to victims’ relatives, seen by the Sun, says: ‘This is to inform you that El Shafee Elsheikh has applied to transfer to the UK, the country of which the inmate is a national.
‘The United States has prisoner transfer relationships with many countries.
‘These treaties permit foreign nationals to apply to transfer and serve their sentence in their home country.
‘Before making a decision, the US collects information about the prisoner, the views of law enforcement, and any views provided by victims.’
What were the IS ‘Beatles’ responsible for?
Three of the four members of the terrorist group are still alive – Aine Davis, Alexanda Kotey, and El Shafee Elsheikh.
Mohammed Emwazi, who was nicknamed Jihadi John, was killed in Syria, in 2015.
All were from London and had traveled to Syria to join ISIS. The British government has since stripped them of their citizenship.
The group’s nickname, and those of its members – ‘John’, ‘Paul’, ‘George’, and ‘Ringo’ – were used by the hostages in ironic reference.
Altogether, US authorities say the group ‘The Beatles’ beheaded as many as 27 captives.
Their victims were kept in cramped cells in Western Raqqa before being tortured and eventually beheaded. Their brutal killings were filmed and the group released all the videos online.
Several freed captives described the British jihadis as the harshest jailers.
One source said in 2014: ‘Whenever the Beatles showed up, there was some kind of physical beating or torture.’
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