US courtroom sentences ISIS-affiliated Beatles to life in jail for killing hostages
A US courtroom on Friday sentenced a member of the infamous Islamic State kidnapping and killing cell referred to as “The Beatles” to life imprisonment by a US courtroom for the murders of 4 American hostages in Syria.
Al-Shafei Al-Sheikh, 34, was sentenced to eight concurrent life sentences after being discovered responsible in April of kidnapping hostages, conspiring to kill US residents and supporting a terrorist group.
U.S. District Choose T.
The elder, who was carrying massive glasses, a black face masks, and a darkish inexperienced jail go well with, didn’t give any apparent response to the sentence.
The 2-week trial of the previous British citizen, which included emotional testimony from former hostages and the victims’ dad and mom, was probably the most important trial of an ISIS fighter in the US.
In a press release to the courtroom on Friday, Diane Foley, the mom of murdered hostage James Foley, addressed the sheikh saying, “Your hate-filled crimes didn’t win…You’ve gotten been held accountable to your corruption.
“Love is way stronger than hate. I pity you Sheikh for selecting to hate.”
On the trial, the jury deliberated for lower than six hours earlier than convicting the sheikh for his function within the murders of 4 People – journalists Foley and Stephen Sotloff and support employees Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
A Kurdish militia in Syria captured the sheikh and former “Beatle” Alexanda Amon Koti in January 2018 and handed them over to US forces in Iraq.
They had been transferred to the US in 2020 for trial.
Coty, 38, pleaded responsible in September 2021 and was sentenced to life in jail in April.
It was alleged that one other “Beetle,” 38-year-old Ayn Davis, had been deported to Britain from Turkey and positioned in pretrial detention on terrorism fees.
And the fourth “Beetle”, the executioner Muhammed Mawazi, was killed by a US drone in Syria in 2015.
The abductors, who had been raised and radicalized in London, had been nicknamed “The Beatles” by the captives due to their distinctive British accents.
Energetic in Syria from 2012 to 2015, they’re accused of kidnapping greater than two dozen journalists and support employees from the US and different nations.
Ten European and former Syrian hostages testified within the Sheikh’s trial, accusing the “Beatles” of brutal remedy over months, together with beatings, electrical shocks, waterboarding and mock execution.
Foley, Sotloff and Ksig have been beheaded by Muazi, and the Islamic State has launched movies of their deaths for propaganda functions.
The Beatles initially held Mueller however had been later handed over to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who’s reported to have repeatedly raped her.
The Islamic State introduced Mueller’s loss of life in February 2015. The group mentioned she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, a declare that US authorities contested.
Al-Baghdadi was killed throughout a US particular forces raid in 2019.
Forward of the sheikh’s sentencing, British police on Wednesday revealed particulars of years-long efforts to determine and convey to justice the hostage-takers.
Richard Smith, head of the London Police’s counter-terrorism unit, likened it to “assembling very small items of a jigsaw” and following “a sequence of breadcrumbs”.
The sheikh refused to talk in courtroom on Friday, however his legal professionals mentioned he supposed to attraction the ruling on the grounds of “ineffective counsel”.
(AFP)
