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Alexandria — AUSA A member of the Islamic State cell, who was convicted in April for his role in a hostage-taking conspiracy that led to the beheading of journalists and support personnel in the Islamic State, could be sentenced to life in prison in a federal court on Friday.
El Shafee Elsheikh, a 33-year-old former British citizen, was convicted in April by a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, after a six-week trial and hours of deliberation.
In convicting Elsheikh, the jury found that he was part of an Islamic State group called "The Beatles," with a British accent, for beheading American hostages in Iraq and Syria. concluded that he was a member
Born in Sudan and raised in London, Elsheikh kills his four American hostages: James Foley, Stephen Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. was accused of conspiring to Journalists Foley and Sotloff and aid worker Kassig were killed in videotaped decapitation. Mueller was repeatedly raped by then-group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before he died in Syria, US officials said.
Foley, Sotloff, and Kassig's deaths were confirmed in 2014, while Muller's death was confirmed in early 2015.
The prosecution against Elsheikh, who was stripped of his British citizenship in 2018, had potential. A death sentence was handed down, but US prosecutors had previously informed British officials that they would not seek the death penalty.
Another member of the cell, Alexander Korty was sentenced to life in prison by a U.S. judge earlier this year. Coty was detained in Iraq by US forces before being airlifted to the US to face her trial. He pleaded guilty to the murders of Foley, Sotloff, Mueller and Kassig last September.
His third member of the group, Mohammed his Emwazi, was killed in a US-UK missile attack in Syria in 2015.
After lengthy negotiations, some of the former hostages released from their cells testified during the trial about the torture they were subjected to. Family members of the deceased victims also testified.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Scott Malone and Bernadette Baum)
