A letter from the late Peter Kassig was read aloud during the terrorism trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, a 33-year-old former British national and alleged member of a kidnapping and murder ring known to the Beatles. British accents. The court in Alexandria heard how, in May 2014, the American hostage Peter Kasing lost hope. “Dad, I’m paralyzed here. I’m afraid to counterattack. Some of me still have hope. “Part of me is certain to die,” he wrote to his father, Ed Kassing, who read the letter from the witness stand. Peter Kassig wrote that his captors tried to tell him and the other hostages that they had been abandoned by their families and their countries because they refused to comply with the demands of the Islamic State. “But of course we know you do what you can and more. “Do not worry, Dad, if I go down, I will think of nothing but what I know to be true, that you and Mom love me more than the moon!” wrote Kassing. He added: “If I die, I believe that at least you and I can find some shelter and comfort knowing that I came out as a result of trying to relieve pain and help those in need.” Kassig, a humanitarian aid worker, was taken hostage in Syria in 2013. He had set up his own non-profit organization to provide medical training and supplies to areas beyond the reach of some of the largest aid groups. His long, handwritten letter was handed over to his family by a freed hostage. The testimony left many in the courtroom in tears on the sixth day of a trial detailing the horrific barbarity inflicted on more than 20 Western hostages held captive by Islamic State about a decade ago. Elsheikh is accused of taking the lead in the hostage-taking plot that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Kassig, James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Kayla Mueller. Kassing, Foley and Sotloff were beheaded in videos that were distributed around the world. Muller was raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before being killed. On Wednesday, the court also heard the testimony of French hostage Nicolas Henin, who survived 300 days in captivity before his release in 2014. After questioning by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Raj Parekh, Henin described his escape as several days after his hostage-taking and the torture he inflicted on him when he was arrested again. Henin said he asked his guards for a broom to clean his cell and used the broom to untie the railings that covered a window. He crawled out the window overnight and ran for miles in the Syrian desert until he reached a village near the city of Raqqa, a stronghold of Islamic State, where he sought help. “I met two people in pajamas,” he said. “Unfortunately you can not recognize an Isis fighter in his pajamas. “They took me to the local police station.” Authorities returned him to his captors, who beat him, drained him in the air, hung him in handcuffs that dug his flesh in the Syrian sun, and finally left him in a cell for 11 days with his wrists chained to his ankles. In the last months of his captivity, he met the Beatles, who had already been recognized by his hostages as highly sadistic. He said the men would be beaten regularly and that what they called “Ringo” would often give hostage lectures to justify their captivity. Peter Kassig pictured delivering food to refugees in Lebanon in a 2013 photo. Photo: Reuters “They were trying to explain to us that even though we did not carry weapons, we were still somehow a kind of fighter in the war between the infidel West and Islam,” said Henin. Prosecutors have claimed that Elsheikh is “Ringo”, although none of the hostages he has testified to have been able to identify him. Witnesses said all members of the cell worked hard to keep their faces completely covered when they came in contact with the hostages. “They liked to think that as long as they were masked, they were protected from persecution – maybe it was a silly idea,” said Henin, smiling at Elseich, who was sitting in a black face mask, white shirt and black pants. just a few meters away from him on the defense table. The French journalist also recalled meeting Mueller at a jail in a desert south of Raqqa. He was wearing traditional Arabic clothing, he said. “I was inspired by her bravery. I think it inspired us all with its power. “Yes, it was very strong.” Henin said that when he and some other hostages were finally released, they were blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to a crossing point near the Turkish border. “We have been told many times, ‘We do not want you to go to the media.’ “If you go to the media, it will be a boomerang for the hostages.” Henin thought it meant that the other hostages would be tortured, so shortly after his release, when he gave his first interview to France 24 and asked who had arrested him, “I lied and said I did not know.” From memory, Henin provided the FBI with a diagram of a desert prison. The court heard from Dan Story, an agent who used the chart to plot a rescue attempt in July 2014. It ultimately failed because the hostages had already been relocated. U.S. troops took pictures and gathered evidence, however, some of which were shown to the jury on television screens. It included guns, iron restraints and, as Story articulated, “You can see writing and you can see the word Kayla – Kayla – scratched on the wall.” An involuntary murmur was heard in the public gallery. Elsheikh’s defense attorney, Edward MacMahon, told Story: “You do not know if forensic evidence has been found linking Mr Elsheikh to the desert prison.” The FBI agent admitted: “I do not.” Elsheikh and another member of the nucleus, Alexanda Amon Kotey, were arrested in January 2018 by a Kurdish militia in Syria, handed over to US forces in Iraq and flown to Virginia in October 2020. Kotey pleaded guilty in September 2021 and faces life imprisonment. Britain stripped Kotey and Elsheikh of British citizenship. Executioner Mohamed Emouazi was killed by a US drone in Syria in November 2015, while a fourth member of the group, Ain Davis, is being held in Turkey after being convicted of terrorism. Elsheikh has denied the allegations and his lawyers say his arrest is a case of false identity. He faces life in prison if convicted.
