A former British nationwide accused of being a member of Isis is on trial for expenses of hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit homicide.
El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, was mentioned to be a part of a bunch of militants dubbed ‘The Beatles’ due to their British accents – however denied being a member in a US federal court docket yesterday.
The cell – allegedly together with Mohammed Emwazi, Alexanda Kotey and Aine Davis – is claimed to have tortured and killed numerous hostages in Syria between 2012 and 2015.
Elsheikh is charged with taking hostages, ensuing within the deaths of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and support employees Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.
He's additionally accused of conspiring within the deaths of British humanitarian employees Alan Henning and David Haines, and Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
Greater than 50 witnesses are anticipated to take the stand towards him in a trial that's anticipated to final at the least three weeks.
Defending Elsheikh, his lawyer Edward MacMahon informed jurors he wouldn't minimise the violence endured by hostages, however questioned if Elsheikh bore any obligation.
He mentioned Elsheikh was ‘a easy Isis fighter’ and never a member of the so-called Beatles, nor ‘concerned within the kidnapping, torture and deaths of any of those people’.
The lawyer mentioned surviving hostages have various recollections about every member, and proof will present inconsistencies from witnesses about Elsheikh’s id.
Elsheikh has made numerous admissions about his position within the hostage-taking scheme, all of which needs to be disregarded as they had been made whereas in custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces, MacMahon argued.
Nonetheless, prosecutor John Gibbs insisted he performed a job in a ‘brutal hostage-taking scheme’ that included acts of torture – a few of which had been filmed.
He mentioned the previous Brit was identified by his captives for his penchant for brutality and, as the principle guard, carried out many of the acts.
Elsheikh was born in Sudan however moved to the UK as a baby, earlier than turning into disillusioned with the West and travelling to Syria to hitch Isis, the court docket heard.
There he met up with Emwazi and Kotey – previous buddies from London. He was stripped of his British citizenship in 2018.
Emwazi – dubbed ‘Jihadi John’ – died in a drone strike in 2015, whereas Davis was convicted on terrorism expenses and jailed in Turkey.
Kotey pleaded responsible to the murders of Foley, Kassig, Sotloff and Mueller in September and will likely be sentenced subsequent month.
The trial continues.
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