Sheikh, the person accused of his homicide, was born in Britain, the place he attended a non-public, fee-paying college in East London, in addition to the London College of Economics. Nevertheless, he was drawn into jihadist circles. In 1994 he was imprisoned in India, after kidnapping numerous Western vacationers. He was freed, together with two different militants, 5 years later, when gunmen hijacked an airliner, forcing it to land in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and demanded the boys be launched in change for the passengers.