The daughter of ISIS victim David Haines is travelling to the US this week to make a personal plea at the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh for the terror group to reveal where her father's body is buried.
Mr Elsheikh, one of the alleged British ISIS Beatles members, is due to stand trial in Alexandria for the murder of 28 British, American and foreign hostages in Syria between 2014 and 2015.
The 33-year-old from west London, who denies the charges, is one of the most senior ISIS members to be prosecuted.
Bethany Haines' father David was a humanitarian aid worker in Syria when he was abducted in 2013.
The group later released footage of his murder.
The 24-year-old is travelling to the US to attend his trial and has written a victim impact statement about her family's ordeal which she intends to read to the court if Mr Elsheikh is convicted.
Mr Elsheikh is not charged with Mr Haines murder due to the US’s lack of jurisdiction but she intends to ask him to “do the right thing” and reveal his final resting place.
“Don’t do it for me,” she will tell him. “Do it for my son, so that he can finally say goodbye to his grandad.”
“I’ve prepared for this for years,” she told the Sunday Times. “I want to be able to see him at all times; to see his facial expressions.”
Ms Haines told The Telegraph she wants to make it clear to the court ISIS' atrocities had "nothing" to do with religion.
“When it first happened I was young and naive. I thought: Christians don’t go around doing this stuff," she said.
"But when I travelled to Syria I met so many Muslims who had been affected by ISIS. It changed my view and woke me up – this has absolutely nothing to do with religion. It’s despicable for them to hide behind that.”
The four-week trial is due to hear from 70 witnesses, including intelligence officers and other victims not included on the indictment.
“Frankly I just wanted them to be hung from a tree, anywhere," Ms Haines said.
"They’re hardened extremists who will never feel anything close to remorse. Why do they deserve to be on this planet when they’ve committed unspeakable crimes?”
Ringleader of the Beatles terror group, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a US drone strike in Raqqa.
Aine Lesley Davis was given a seven year sentence in Turkey in 2017 and Alexander Kotey pleaded guilty in the US last year and is awaiting sentence.
The UK agreed to hand over a wealth of operational intelligence on the pair in return for a promise from the US Department of Justice to drop the death penalty in the case.
Kommentare