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Alexandria (United States) (AFP) – El Shafee Elsheikh, a member of the infamous Islamic State kidnap-and-murder cell generally known as the “Beatles,” was discovered responsible of all costs on Thursday within the deaths of 4 American hostages in Syria.
A jury convicted Elsheikh, 33, a former British nationwide, of all eight counts after a two-week trial, essentially the most important prosecution of an IS member in the USA.
Elsheikh was charged with hostage-taking, conspiracy to homicide US residents — journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and help employees Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — and supporting a terrorist group.
The 12-person jury deliberated for round six hours earlier than delivering the decision in US District Court docket.
Elsheikh didn’t show any seen response because the responsible findings have been learn however a number of members of the households of the slain American hostages who have been within the public gallery dabbed at their eyes.
Elsheikh and one other former “Beatle,” Alexanda Amon Kotey, 38, have been captured by a Kurdish militia in Syria in January 2018 and handed over to US forces in Iraq.
They have been flown to the USA to face trial. Kotey pleaded responsible in September 2021 and is dealing with life in jail.
Elsheikh, who was stripped of his citizenship by Britain, additionally faces a possible life sentence following his conviction.
Elsheikh’s protection legal professional, Nina Ginsberg, had argued that whereas Elsheikh could certainly have been an IS fighter, prosecutors had not proved he really was a “Beatle.”
Ginsberg mentioned the “Beatles” have been chargeable for “brutal” and “loathsome” acts however insisted Elsheikh was not one in all them.
In addition to the deaths of the American hostages, Elsheikh and the opposite “Beatles” are suspected of involvement within the kidnapping in Syria of some 20 different journalists and reduction employees from Europe, Russia and Japan.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors performed media interviews for the jury throughout which Elsheikh described his interactions with the hostages.
Within the interviews, Elsheikh admitted taking electronic mail addresses and proof of life questions from the hostages and to even bodily beating them.
Ginsberg mentioned Elsheikh was a “damaged man” at the moment and solely made the admissions to keep away from being despatched to Iraq, the place he would have confronted a abstract trial and execution.
He needed to be despatched to Britain or the USA “the place he may get a good trial,” she mentioned.
‘Brutal legacy’
Nicolas Henin, a former French hostage who testified on the trial to his harrowing therapy in captivity, mentioned following the decision that he was “grateful to the American justice system for having organized this trial.”
“A terrorist crime opens a gaping wound in a society,” Henin mentioned. “Solely justice can carry closure to such a monstrous chapter.”
“It doesn’t carry again the lifeless, it doesn’t heal all of the ache, nevertheless it soothes,” he mentioned.
Foley, Sotloff and Kassig have been beheaded by “Beatle” Mohamed Emwazi, generally known as “Jihadi John,” and movies of their deaths have been launched by IS for propaganda functions.
Mueller was initially held by the “Beatles” however then was turned over to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who reportedly raped her repeatedly.
IS introduced Mueller’s loss of life in February 2015 and mentioned she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, a declare that was disputed by US authorities.
Baghdadi died throughout a US particular forces raid in 2019. Emwazi was killed by a US drone in Syria in 2015.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Raj Parekh informed the jury the federal government had proved that Elsheikh, Kotey and Emwazi “grew up collectively, radicalized collectively, fought as high-ranking IS fighters collectively and tortured and terrorized hostages collectively.”
“What these horrific crimes left behind is a legacy of brutal killings and shattered households,” he mentioned.
© 2022 AFP
