The UK Home Office has temporarily suspended legal cooperation with the United States in the prosecution of two former Britons who allegedly fought for Daesh*.
"Yesterday we received a request from the legal representative of the family of one of the suspects to pause the mutual legal assistance response. We have agreed to a short-term pause," a Home Office spokesperson said on Thursday, as quoted by The Guardian.
Lawyers representing the mother of El Shafee Elsheikh, one of the accused, reportedly wrote to the home secretary to ask for his immediate undertaking that this cooperation be paused.
The mother's lawyer said: "Her request is that the norms of internationally accepted due process form the basis of any trial of accusations concerning her son."
Earlier this week, The Telegraph disclosed a letter from Sajid Javid to the US attorney general. In the letter, Javid asked the US, which has "more effective laws," to prosecute the pair, and promised not to seek a death penalty assurance for them.
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh allegedly are members of a notorious Daesh cell dubbed "The Beatles" by their hostages, which beheaded seven American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and a group of Syrian soldiers, releasing videos of the barbaric executions.
They were arrested in Syria in January and have been detained there ever since, while the British government revoked their citizenship.
*Daesh, also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS, is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.
