A terrorist alleged to be one of the ISIS Beatles execution squad is facing deportation from Turkey to Britain now that he has served his jail term.
UK officials are being questioned as to why Aine Davis, from west London, has not been stripped of his citizenship, a move which would have blocked his deportation.
Davis, 38, was jailed for seven years in Turkey in 2015. He had been discovered hiding out in a villa near Istanbul after being smuggled out of Syria by ISIS and was convicted of being a senior member of the terrorist group.
He is believed to be the fourth member of the brutal squad known as the ISIS Beatles due to their English accents, along with ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey.
Emwazi was killed in a drone strike and this year Elsheikh and Kotey were convicted in the US of executing hostages.
The group was responsible for the killings of a number of western hostages, including Alan Henning and David Haines from Britain, and four Americans, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.
Davis has admitted attending the same London mosque as Emwazi and of knowing him but denies seeing him in Syria or being part of the group.
Now his sentence in Turkey has been completed, officials are reported to be seeking his deportation to the UK.
Questions have been raised as to why Davis has not been stripped of his British citizenship, like other ISIS members such as Shamima Begum.
Davis’s father was from Gambia and he was raised there from the age of 5 until he returned to Britain aged 17.
Lord Carlile of Berriew, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has asked why he has not been deported to Gambia.
“Based on the information we have, I am surprised that this person is simply being allowed to return to the UK,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“I would hope the Home Office will provide a transparent explanation so that the public can understand why he is being treated in a different way to other overseas terrorists.
“It looks as though he may be entitled to citizenship of Gambia where he spent much of his childhood and undoubtedly has family.”
If the UK deems Davis a security threat, he could be placed under a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure, placed under curfew and tagged.