In a US courtroom on Thursday, a British member of the Islamic State terrorist group called "the Beatles" admitted to helping the militant group torture and murder prisoners in Syria, including four Americans.
In federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, the defendant, Alexanda Kotey, pled guilty to all charges. Authorities in the United States stated he and another British member of the group, El Shafee Elsheikh, were engaged in the kidnappings of foreign hostages, including American humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, as well as American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
The US and foreign nationals were killed by British ISIS member
The four American hostages, as well as other European and Japanese people, were killed by Kotey. As part of the plea agreement, Kotey accepts a sentence of life imprisonment in the United Kingdom, even if he is granted a lower term there, to be spent in either the United States or the United Kingdom. It also demands that he talk with authorities about his experience with ISIS.
According to the NY Post, Kotey is also obligated to meet with the relatives of his victims upon request. Family members of all four of his victims were present during the court on Thursday. On March 4, they will have the opportunity to speak at Kotey's official sentence.
Per Daily Mail, he and another British ISIS member, El Shafee Elsheikh, 32, also known as "Jihadi George," were accused of executing foreign captives and American journalists. Both men have been charged with hostage-taking that resulted in death, as well as conspiracy to murder US citizens overseas and providing material assistance to terrorists.
Elsheikh has not entered a plea agreement, according to court documents. In January, he is set to stand trial. They are accused of taking part in gruesome extremist recordings depicting the beheadings of foreign hostages that were broadcast on the internet.
According to the 24-page indictment, the torture of the captives included forcing hostages to fight one other, electric shocks with a taser, and 20-minute beatings with sticks and waterboarding. Other hostages who died as a result of the two men's actions include Alan Henning, a British cab driver who was bringing aid, David Haines, a Scottish humanitarian worker, and two Japanese nationals
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Alexanda Kotey admitted hostages need to be beaten to control them
Elsheikh's mother filed a court challenge, claiming that it would violate the UK's anti-capital penalty stance, and the US and the UK reached an agreement. According to a British Supreme Court ruling, it is illegal for the UK to disclose evidence with the US without first obtaining guarantees that the two would not face death.
Since the US consented to the agreement, the UK and the US have exchanged intelligence. During the Syrian Civil War, ISIS kidnapped American journalist James Foley, who was working as a freelance war correspondent.
Elsheikh previously confessed that Foley would occasionally be beaten to ensure that the captives were fed sufficiently. In Syria, the hostages were severely assaulted. Waterboarding, fake executions, excruciating stress postures, food starvation, stick beatings, chokeholds inducing blackouts, and electric shocks were all used against them.
After ransoms were paid in certain cases, captives were released. The deaths of the American hostages shocked the Obama administration, forcing the government to rethink how it handled captive families. Kotey said the violence was necessary for "controlling" the captives, according to authorities.
In 2015, another member of the cell, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, was killed in a Syrian airstrike. Kotey claimed he went to Syria with Emwazi in August 2012 and joined Al-Nusra Front, a Qaeda affiliate, before transferring to ISIS.
Aine Davis, the group's fourth British member, is being held in Turkey on terrorist accusations. If Turkey agreed to extradite Davis to the United States or the United Kingdom, Kotey's participation would be critical to any prosecution effort, as per NY Times.
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