Islamic State 'Beatles' cell member gets life sentence for killing US hostages
El Shafee Elsheikh
A member of Islamic State cell known as "The Beatles" was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the killings of US journalists and aid worker in Syria. The sentence was handed to El Shafee Elsheikh (34), the IS member by judge TS Ellis. The life imprisonment sentence is without parole. The judge called Elsheikh's behaviour "horrific, barbaric, brutal and of course criminal."
Elsheikh, a British citizen, was part of an Islamic State cell nicknamed "The Beatles" because of theEnglish accent of its members. The cell beheaded American hostages in areas of the Middle East controlled by the militant group. He was found guilty on four counts of hostage-taking and four counts of conspiracy after a two-week trial.
The victims' relatives and friends sat in the front rows of the courtroom and were visibly shaken during the course of the hearing as tears rolled down their eyes and they consoled each other. Elsheikh was sentenced to eight concurrent life sentences.
At the peak of its power from 2014-2017, Islamic State ruled over millions of people and claimed responsibility for or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world.
Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate over a quarter of Iraq and Syria in 2014, before he was killed in a raid by US special forces in Syria in 2019 as the group's rule collapsed.
Elsheikh, who was born in Sudan and raised in London, was accused of conspiring to kill four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
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Foley and Sotloff were journalists and Kassig was an aid worker. All of them were killed in videotaped beheadings. Mueller was raped repeatedly by al-Baghdadi before her death in Syria, US officials have said.
The deaths of Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were confirmed in 2014; Mueller's death was confirmed in early 2015.
(With inputs from agencies)
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