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U.S. trial begins for member of Islamic State ‘Beatles’ cell

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An alleged member of a gaggle of Islamic State militants that beheaded American hostages in Iraq and Syria, nicknamed “The Beatles” for his or her British accents, faces a U.S. legal trial starting on Tuesday.

El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, will stand trial in federal court docket in Alexandria, Virginia, simply outdoors Washington, on fees together with deadly hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit homicide.

Elsheikh was considered one of 4 ISIS militants belonging to the four-member Islamic State cell. The cell garnered worldwide consideration after releasing movies of the murders of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and help employees Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, amongst different victims.

Two of the cell’s 4 members, Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, have been held in Iraq by the U.S. navy earlier than being flown to america to face trial.

Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen who oversaw the executions, died in a drone strike in 2015. Aine Lesley Davis, the fourth member of the group, was convicted in Turkey on terrorism fees and jailed.

Kotey pleaded responsible in September 2021 to the murders of Foley, Sotloff, Mueller and Kassig. He will likely be sentenced subsequent month.

Kotey was a citizen of the UK, however the British authorities withdrew his citizenship.

The fees towards Elsheikh, a UK citizen, carry a possible dying sentence, however U.S. prosecutors have suggested British officers that they won’t search the dying penalty towards Elsheikh or Kotey.

U.S. District Choose T.S. Ellis will oversee the trial, and is predicted to spend Tuesday questioning potential jurors to make sure a good trial.

Elsheikh’s legal professionals have stated the killings have been deliberate and carried out by Emwazi on the behest of Islamic State management.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Enhancing by Scott Malone and Richard Pullin)



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