A jihadist from the Islamic State (IS) group, El Shafee el-Sheikh, was today found guilty by a US court of involvement in the kidnapping and death of four American hostages in Syria. He would have belonged to the ‘Beatles’ cell. The hostages gave the members of the cell this nickname because of their British accent.
Elsheikh, 33, nicknamed Jihadi George, was found guilty by the court jury of, among other things, deadly hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder. The accused was tried in Alexandria, near Washington, for his role in the imprisonment and death of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. His sentence will be pronounced later. He risks life.
A co-defendant of Elsheikh is 38-year-old Alexanda Amon Kotey, who goes by the nickname Jihadi Ringo. The gang leader, Mohamed Emwazi, nicknamed Jihadi John, was killed in a US airstrike in late 2015. The fourth gang member, Aine Davis or Jihadi Paul, is imprisoned in Turkey for terrorism.
Elsheikh and Kotey are former British citizens. They were rounded up by Kurdish militias in northern Syria in 2018 and handed over to US troops in Iraq. In 2020 they were flown to the US state of Virginia. There they were charged with kidnapping, hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder Americans and supporting a terrorist organization.
Kotey pleaded guilty seven months ago to, among other things, conspiracy to kidnap Americans, and is still awaiting sentencing. Reportedly, he can count on life and would be transferred to the United Kingdom after 15 years.
At least 27 people kidnapped
IS ‘Beatles’ are said to have kidnapped at least 27 people from 15 different countries in Syria between 2012 and 2015. Some were released after paying ransom. Others were tortured physically and/or psychologically on an almost daily basis and some were subsequently brutally murdered, for example by beheading. Images of this used by IS for propaganda purposes.
The Sunni jihadists of IS have their roots mainly in Iraq, where they turned against the American occupation, among other things. Iraqi military personnel defeated in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 played a leading role in the rise of IS in Iraq and Syria. There, IS established a reign of terror called the Caliphate in 2014, which lasted until 2017.
‘Beatles jihadists’ lawsuit launched near Washington: “He was the most brutal of the group”
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