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Sajid Javid is ‘playing with lives,’ Labour charges

Number 10 reasserts the government ‘opposes the death penalty’ despite not seeking a death penalty assurance for two Britons if they're extradited by the United States

DOWNING STREET was forced to assert that the government “continues to oppose the death penalty” today after it told Washington it would not object to two Britons facing execution if extradited by the United States.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid is “playing with lives,” Labour said after it emerged that he would not seek a “death penalty assurance” for the two men.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are alleged to have been two of four British executioners for the Isis death cult.

The four, nicknamed “the Beatles,” carried out the killings of a series of high-profile Western captives. The other members were Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John,” who was killed by a drone strike in 2015, and Aine Davis, who has been jailed in Turkey.

Diane Foley, whose journalist son James Foley was beheaded by the group, said she was opposed to the death penalty because it would make the two men “martyrs in their twisted ideology.”

“I would like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives,” she added.

Mr Kotey and Mr Elsheikh, who have been stripped of British citizenship, were captured in January, sparking a row over whether they should be returned to Britain for trial or face justice elsewhere.

In his letter, Mr Javid told US Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the government “does not currently intend to request, nor actively encourage” their transfer to Britain.

“I am of the view that there are strong reasons for not requiring a death penalty assurance in this specific case, so no such assurances will be sought,” he added.

Other papers state that Britain will not formally oppose a decision to send the men to the Guantanamo Bay without trial, reported the Daily Telegraph, which obtained the documents.

Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti said: “Sajid Javid appears to have secretly and unilaterally abandoned Britain’s opposition to the death penalty.

“By doing so, he is not just playing with the lives of these particular terrorists but those of other Britons – including potentially innocent ones – all over the world.

“Just as we should be persuading countries like the US and Iran to drop the death penalty, Sajid Javid appears to be encouraging this grave human rights abuse.”

The Downing Street spokeswoman said it was “a long-standing position of the government to oppose the death penalty,” but it has “a priority to make sure that these men face criminal prosecution.”

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