A member of an Islamic State cell known as The Beatles was sentenced this Friday to life in prison by a US federal court. He was accused of being involved in a hostage plot that led to the beheading of American journalists and aid workers.
El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, has been sentenced at a federal court hearing in Alexandria, Virginia. After knowing the ruling, the families and friends of the victims have said that "a little justice" is provided.
Four months ago, a jury found the former British citizen guilty on charges including hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder. After a weeks-long trial in April and hours of deliberation, the jury has concluded that Elsheikh was part of an Islamic State cell, known as The Beatles, that beheaded several American hostages in Iraq and Syria.
"This defendant's behavior can only be described as horrific, barbaric, brutal and, of course, criminal," Judge T.S. Ellis.
El Shafee Elsheikh, who was born in Sudan and grew up in London, was accused of plotting to kill four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
Specifically, Foley and Sotloff, both journalists, and Kassig, an aid worker, were killed in videotaped beheadings. For her part, Mueller was repeatedly raped by the group's leader at the time, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, before his death in Syria, according to US officials.
The deaths of Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were confirmed in 2014; Mueller's death was confirmed in early 2015.
Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Foley's mother, Diane, said that this sentence makes it clear to all "those who dare to kidnap, torture or kill any American citizen abroad" that American justice find them wherever they are" and that the US government will "stop them".
Although the charges against El Shafee Elsheikh, whose British citizenship was withdrawn in 2018, carried a possible death sentence, prosecutors argued that a life sentence was needed to prevent the already convicted from causing future harm and to set a precedent that such crimes will receive strict punishment.
Another member of the cell, Alexanda Kotey, was sentenced to life in prison by a US judge earlier this year. Kotey was held in Iraq by the US military before being flown to the United States to stand trial. He pleaded guilty in September to the murders of Foley, Sotloff, Kassig and Mueller.
A third member of the group, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a US-British missile strike in Syria in 2015.
Indeed, some former hostages, freed by the cell after lengthy negotiations, testified during trials about the torture they endured. Family members of those killed also testified.
At the height of its power between 2014 and 2017, the Islamic State ruled over millions of people and claimed or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world.
Its leader, al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate over a quarter of Iraq and Syria in 2014, before being killed in a US special forces raid in Syria in 2019 as the group's government collapsed.
