They are tried in the United States because London did not want to do so and stripped them of their British nationality. One of the members of the gang of kidnappers of Daesh dubbed the “Beatles” pleaded guilty Thursday of complicity in the kidnappings and murders of Western hostages, including four Americans, in federal court in the United States.
Alexanda Kotey, 37, has so far pleaded not guilty in court in Alexandria, near Washington, alongside El Shafee el-Sheikh, 33, another of the four members of the kidnapper group. They are notably accused of being involved in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, killed in 2014, and that of aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
Alexanda Kotey replied “yes” to Judge TS Ellis who asked her, “Do you freely and willfully plead guilty because you are in fact guilty of these charges?” “.
The death penalty abandoned
By admitting his guilt, he waived his right to a trial and faces several life sentences without the right to early release. He also made an agreement with the government to provide all the information in his possession about his actions in Syria.
The accused, born in London, spoke in English. The families of the four American victims were present in the courtroom. Prosecution representative Dennis Fitzpatrick said they agreed with this change in defense strategy.
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh were extradited to the United States from Iraq in October 2020 to appear in American justice. They were captured in January 2018 by Syrian Kurdish forces, then handed over to the US military in Iraq.
Their extradition to the United States was only made possible after American authorities assured London that they would not seek a death sentence in this case.
“Task Force 8-14”
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh belonged to the cell nicknamed the “Beatles” by their hostages, because of their British accent. The two men grew up in the United Kingdom, where they became radicalized before joining Daesh in Syria in 2012. They are accused of kidnapping American, European, Japanese and Syrian hostages from 2012 to 2015, and of having tortured and killed their victims, including beheading. The videos of the assassinations, disseminated by Daesh for propaganda purposes, shocked the whole world.
The two men are said to have supervised the places of detention of the hostages and coordinated the ransom negotiations by e-mail. They would also have been involved “in repeated acts of physical and psychological violence against hostages”, according to American justice.
The alleged cell leader, Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed “Jihadi John”, was killed in a US airstrike in Syria in November 2015, while the fourth “Beatle”, Aine Davis, is being held in Turkey after being convicted. terrorism in 2017.
The operation of the American army in which the head of Daesh, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in October 2019, was called “Task Force 8-14” in reference to the birthday of Kayla Mueller .
The young humanitarian was working with the Danish Refugee Council when she was kidnapped in Aleppo, northern Syria, in August 2013. According to her parents, she was first tortured by her jailers and then returned to Baghdadi at the end of 2014. , who allegedly raped her numerous times before killing her.