The 33-year-old former British national was found to be a member of the terrorist cell of the Islamic State operating in Iraq and Syria and whose members were called “The Beatles” because of their British accent. The group sparked outrage around the world after posting videos of the executions of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. U.S. and British authorities say Islamic State Beatles were responsible for the killings of 27 people, including British volunteers David Haynes and Alan Henning, and U.S. aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. Read more: IS Beatle victim’s brother welcomes guilty verdict Image: (LR) IS Victims David Haynes, Steve Sotloff, Alan Henning and James Foley Team leader Mohamed Emouazi, nicknamed Jihadi John, was killed in a drone strike in 2015, while a third member, Alexandra Cotei, was already serving a sentence behind bars. Another man, Ain Davis, who is currently in prison in Turkey, was not considered a member of the cell by the US Department of Justice. Known for their toughness During the opening remarks, a Virginia court heard that Elsheikh and his counterparts were “absolutely terrifying” and held more than 20 Western hostages in a jail called “the desert.” The victims were subjected to “relentless and unpredictable” abuse, prosecutors said, adding that the perpetrators “appeared to be enjoying the beating”. They were given “dead legs” and placed in “stressful places” while “threatened with murder,” the jury said. The band was known for their toughness, forcing the inmates to fight with each other and making them sing song parodies. Image: An artist’s impression of Elsheikh in court The surviving hostages testified that the Beatles were happy to rewrite “Hotel California” as “Hotel Osama” and made them sing the chorus “You will never leave”. The guilty verdict came even though none of the surviving hostages could identify Elsheikh as one of their captors. Despite their characteristic accents, they always hid their faces behind masks and ordered the hostages to avoid eye contact or risk being beaten. The surviving hostages were all Europeans, with the Americans and the British being killed. The sentence focused on four American deaths The convictions for all eight charges in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. Everyone except Ms. Mueller was executed in videotaped beheadings that circulated on the Internet. Ms Mueller was forced into slavery and repeatedly raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi before being killed. Image: Alexanda Kotey is already serving a prison sentence Elsheikh, who was arrested by the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces in 2018, eventually confessed to his role in the plot to investigators as well as in media interviews, acknowledging that he helped collect email addresses and provided evidence of life to their families. hostages. ransom negotiations. Surviving witness Federico Motka recounted a moment in the summer of 2013 when he and his cellmate David Haynes entered a room with American hostage James Foley and British hostage John Candley over what they called “Royal Robb.” The losers were told they would fall into the water. Weak from hunger, two of the four fainted during the hour-long battle. The United States has vowed not to pursue the death penalty Defense attorneys acknowledged that Elsheikh was a member of IS, but said prosecutors had failed to prove he was a Beatle. They mentioned the lack of clarity about who the Beatle was, and the confusion about whether there were three or four members in the cell. However, prosecutors said it did not matter if Elseih was “George” or “Ringo”. Image: El Shafee Elsheikh (R) with Alexanda Kotey in March 2018 Kotey and Elsheikh were arrested together in 2018 and transferred to Virginia in 2020 for trial after the US promised not to seek the death penalty. Kotey pleaded guilty last year to a deal that carries a life sentence, but leaves open the possibility of serving his sentence in the United Kingdom after 15 years in the United States.
