A jury resumes its deliberations Thursday morning within the case of El Shafee Elsheikh, one of many three British males accused of working a brutal ISIS hostage-taking scheme that led to the deaths of 4 Individuals.
Collectively often called the "Beatles" for his or her British accents, Elsheikh and his co-conspirators Mohammad Emwazi and Alexanda Kotey labored collectively to kidnap and abuse greater than two dozen Western hostages, based on prosecutors. He is charged with taking part within the plot that led to the deaths of American hostages James Foley, Peter Kassig, Kayla Mueller and Steven Sotloff.
"This defendant put the fear in terrorism himself," First Assistant U.S. Lawyer Raj Parekh mentioned throughout closing arguments in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday.
Foley, Kassig and Sotloff had been all beheaded in a collection of ugly ISIS propaganda movies launched in 2014. ISIS had claimed Mueller was killed in a 2015 airstrike whereas she was in Syria, however prosecutors Wednesday mentioned they now imagine ISIS killed her after holding her as a slave and sexually abusing her for a yr and a half.
Elsheikh will not be accused of finishing up the act of killing the hostages himself, however he's charged with taking part within the kidnapping and torture that led to the murders of the hostages. Prosecutors say that is sufficient to safe the conviction.
"These people got here to Syria to advertise peace and enlightenment," Parekh mentioned. "El Shafee Elsheikh responded with the systemic, premeditated and relentless abuse and torture."
Parekh laid out his case tying Elsheikh to the hostage-taking operation by connecting him to the opposite Beatles.
"The proof demonstrates that they grew up collectively, radicalized collectively, fought as high-ranking ISIS fighters collectively, held hostages collectively, tortured and terrorized hostages collectively," Parekh mentioned.
Elsheikh and Kotey had been finally captured collectively and held by Syrian Protection Forces earlier than Britain agreed to extradite them to the U.S. for trial. Kotey has agreed to plead responsible in alternate for a life sentence. Emwazi, often called "Jihadi John" and because the determine who carried out lots of the hostage executions, was killed in Syria in 2015.
Protection legal professional Nina Ginsberg didn't deny Elsheikh had traveled to Syria and joined ISIS or that he knew Emwazi and Kotey. Nonetheless, she contended that the federal government didn't show that Elsheikh was one of many three Beatles. The protection claims he's simply an ISIS soldier.
"Mr. Elsheikh was by no means recognized on this courtroom by any of the previous hostages," Ginsberg mentioned.
However prosecutors say it is because the Beatles all the time wore masks throughout their interactions with the hostages.
Over the course of the greater than two week trial, the jury heard proof from dozens of witnesses together with former hostages, households of the victims, officers concerned within the investigation and a former ISIS fighter.
Danish hostage Daniel Ottosen, the ultimate witness for the prosecution this week, detailed the brutality of the Beatles. He recalled being compelled to attend the execution of a Syrian man whereas he and a gaggle of hostages held messages to their households. Afterward whereas within the automotive again to the jail, Ottosen recalled one of many Beatles telling him that he could be subsequent.
Earlier than Ottosen was launched in June of 2014, he memorized a message Foley wished to ship to his household. It took Ottosen three weeks to memorize the letter and was in a position to recite it to Foley's dad and mom. Not lengthy after, Ottosen noticed Foley's execution video.
"I keep in mind being pleased for James that nobody can harm him anymore," Ottosen mentioned. He then defined he felt terrible seeing Steven Sotloff, who was featured on the finish of the video, as a result of he needed to witness it realizing he could be subsequent.
Ottosen returned to court docket Wednesday to look at the closing arguments together with numerous the American hostages' members of the family who've been sitting within the gallery in the course of the trial.