Islamic State 'Beatle' gets life term for US hostage deaths
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — El Shafee Elsheikh, who was formally sentenced to life in prison Friday for a leading role in the beheading deaths of American hostages, had a somewhat whimsical nickname as a so-called “Beatle” that belied the viciousness of his conduct.
In fact, he is the most notorious and highest-ranking member of the Islamic State group to ever be convicted in a U.S. court, prosecutors said at his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Elsheikh and British counterparts Alexanda Kotey and Mohammed Emwazi led an Islamic State hostage-taking scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners captive a decade ago. The hostages dubbed them Beatles because of their accents. Their appearance, always in masks, invoked dread among the hostages for the sadism they displayed.
“This prosecution unmasked the barbaric and sadistic ISIS Beatles,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh.
The life sentence was a foregone conclusion after a jury convicted him of hostage taking resulting in death and other crimes earlier this year.
The convictions carried a mandatory life sentence. The U.S. agreed not to pursue a death sentence as part of a deal that ensured extradition of Elsheikh and his friend, Kotey, who has already been sentenced to life. Emwazi was killed in a drone strike.
The convictions revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff,Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed.
They were among 26 hostages taken captive between 2012 and 2015, when the Islamic State group controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria.
Parekh said it was...