SITTING in a packed French court, Bethany Haines stared into the evil eyes of an IS terrorist sitting in the dock – and after ten seconds of holding his gaze, just smirked at him.
The 27-year-old’s dad David, an aid worker, was beheaded in Syria in 2014 by British-born Islamic killers dubbed “The Beatles”.
Peter AllenBethany Haines stared into the evil eyes of an I.S. terrorist sitting in a French court[/caption]
Bethany’s father David, an aid worker, was beheaded in Syria in 2014
David was killed by British-born Islamic killers dubbed ‘The Beatles’, but there were also five unknown men who tortured him
AFPMehdi Nemmouche, who has been convicted of a 2014 terror attack that killed four people in Brussels, was the terrorist staring back at the 27-year-old[/caption]
But there were also five unknown men who tortured and enslaved him — and they had never been brought to justice.
Despite a hunt which took her all over the world, mum-of-one Bethany had never been able to find their true identities, until this week.
Bethany sat in the gallery of the Paris court and glared at Mehdi Nemmouche, Abdelmalek Tanem and Qais al-Abdallah, who are standing trial for kidnapping, acts of torture and barbarism of seven hostages — including her father — in Syria.
Nemmouche, who has already been convicted of a 2014 terror attack that killed four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, was the one staring back her.
After the start of a six-week trial, Bethany said if the men — and their two accomplices since believed to have been killed — are found guilty, they are just as evil as the IS terrorists who killed her father.
Today she will stand in front of the men again and speak to them for the first time as she delivers a victim impact statement.
She told The Sun: “It might sound strange but I hate these men just as much, if not more than the terrorists people know as ‘the Beatles’.
‘I’ll talk calmly and show how much I hate them’
“When they walked into the court, my hatred of them grew. Two of them looked broken but Nemmouche, who had a psychotic look about him, scoured the gallery where I was sitting and fixed his eyes on me, so I just stared at him back.
“There was no way I was letting him stare me down so after what felt like ages, I just smirked at him. It was my way of showing him he may have hurt my father in terrible ways but he is not touching me.
“I have spent years digging into my dad’s year in captivity before his death. I discovered these faceless men had held my dad in the most barbaric way, did awful things to him and for years I couldn’t find who they were, until now.
“All I knew was that they were French-speaking guards — I had their aliases but never their real identity.
“Now, finally, I know them, I have seen them, I know their names. They are the final, nasty little pieces of my dad’s puzzle.”
Nemmouche, who had a psychotic look about him, scoured the gallery where I was sitting and fixed his eyes on me, so I just stared at him back
Bethany Haines
Speaking about what she will say to them when she takes the stand, she said: “I will try to look them in the eye again, talk calmly and show them how much I hate them.
“I’ll make them listen to my father’s last text messages to me before he was taken captive and my messages asking in desperation where he was when he didn’t answer.
“I want to shame them. I want them to get a small taste of the degradation they put my dad through.
“Then I will remind them that I will walk out of this courtroom when I am finished while they will never see freedom again.”
Bethany has travelled the world from the US to Syria, talked to fellow guards and trawled hostage testimonies in a desperate bid to find the evil captors.
Bethany will speak to the men for the first time as she delivers a victim impact statement
In 2014, a video of David kneeling next to knife-wielding Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, horrified the worldRex Features
ReutersAlexanda Kotey, one of the ‘Beatles’ who has already been jailed for holding her father, was captured in January 2018 in Syria[/caption]
She says significant progress has also been made towards finding her father’s remains in Syria, with a team on the ground closing in on his final resting place.
On Monday — in one of France’s biggest terror trials — Nemmouche, Tanem and al-Abdallah appeared in court charged with holding Western hostages including David and fellow Briton Alan Henning after their abduction in June 2013.
Not knowing who they were felt like I couldn’t properly piece together my father’s story. I tried everything to find them and actually wondered if I ever would
Bethany Haines
But Bethany revealed Alexanda Kotey — one of the “Beatles” who has already been jailed for holding her father — will testify against the men.
Two others — Salim Benghalem and Oussama Atar, both presumed to have died in Syria in 2017 — are also being tried for kidnapping, acts of torture and barbarism, organised crime, and association with a criminal enterprise.
The three living accused men appeared in the dock, wearing normal clothes, behind a Perspex screen and surrounded by six guards.
Bethany added: “It was pleasing seeing them caged in behind the glass with nowhere to go. They never deserve to see freedom again.”
David, 44, from Perth, was abducted while working at a refugee camp in Syria in 2013.
He was held at a number of locations across the country.
In 2014 a video of gaunt and pale David kneeling next to knife-wielding British-born Mohammed Emwazi — aka Jihadi John — horrified the world.
It ended with his beheading — one of 27 decapitations the group are believed to have carried out.
El Shafee Elsheikh — known as Jihadi Ringo — and Kotey were both captured in January 2018 in Syria and have since been jailed in the US.
Fourth “Beatle” Aine Davis is currently serving time in the UK.
Emwazi died in a drone strike in Syria in 2015, while Davis, 38, was captured in Turkey in 2017 and sentenced to seven and a half years for being a member of a terror group.
But for Bethany, mystery had always surrounded her father’s time in captivity — knowing there were a group of “French-speaking guards”, who, testimonies have told her, inflicted the most significant torment.
She said: “After losing my dad I wanted to honour him by bringing justice for him — making sure that the people who did this to him answered for what they did.”
Then last year she was approached about joining a group of other families whose loved ones — journalists and other hostages — were held captive in Syria by IS.
‘I may struggle to keep my emotion in check’
She was told that this was for the purposes of a trial of IS members, which started on Monday at Paris Assize Court.
Among them are Nemmouche, 40, the perpetrator of the IS attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 which killed four, Tanem, 36, who was convicted of heading to Syria in 2012, and al-Abdullah, 42, locked up in France since 2019.
Tanem and al-Abdallah deny the charges.
Two other men, Oussama Atar and Salim bin Gham — suspected to have been killed in Syria — are standing trial in absentia as there is no official record of their deaths.
Evil Atar, an IS ringleader, was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2022 for planning the November 2015 Paris attacks — which included the Bataclan massacre.
I know that my dad was subjected to terrible torture, interrogated in an awful way and subjected to things that no man ever should be
Bethany Haines
That atrocity, which he recruited and trained fighters for, killed 130 at a rock concert.
Bethany said: “It was shocking to find that some of these men who kept my father were responsible for even further heinous acts like the attacks in Brussels and Paris.
PA:Press AssociationFourth ‘Beatle’ Aine Davis is currently serving time in the UK[/caption]
El Shafee Elsheikh, known as Jihadi Ringo, was also captured and jailed in the USGetty
“However, knowing we have them in a court feels a step closer to setting things right for Dad.”
A number of IS fighters and associates are expected to testify at the trial against the men — including Kotey, who is expected to confirm some if not all of them also kept the hostages captive.
Bethany said: “I have been to trials before of Elsheikh and Kotey in the US but this one is different. At the trial are the families of the men accused. That will be difficult.
“I may struggle to keep my emotion in check as the weeks go on.”
Bethany revealed she will “get herself angry” today to drown any nerves before addressing the men in her victim impact statement.
She said: “I will make sure they hear every word. I will make a point of saying that the Koran says nothing about inflicting misery like they did on my father.”
Bethany will now be away from home and her nine-year-old son Aiden for the trial, which will take place in front of six judges.
She added: “I will miss my son but he knows that I have to go.
“He asked me why I was going to France for so long. I said, ‘To get the bad guys who hurt Grandad’. He said, ‘Punch them in the face for me’. I’ll have to try my hardest not to do that.”
As well as seeing the captors brought to justice, Bethany’s biggest goal is to bring home her father’s remains, which she knows are buried in the hills in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
A team of experts have now obtained pictures from the area which can be analysed to see the most likely places to start a dig.
She said: “It is a positive step. All of this is for my father.
“He would be proud of all I am doing and looking evil in the eye and telling it, ‘You haven’t won’.”
APRescue workers help a woman after the Bataclan massacre in Paris, in November 2015[/caption]
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