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April 28, 2022
April 28, 2022
April 28, 2022
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Earlier this month, a U.S. federal jury in Virginia convicted the former ISIS fighter El Shafee Elsheikh – a member of the so-called “Beatles” cell – for his role in the killing of four American hostages. The 33-year-old former British national was found guilty on eight counts including hostage-taking, conspiracy to commit murder, and providing material support to ISIS.
Elsheikh was part of a cell known as the Beatles because of its members’ British accents. They held 26 foreigners hostage between 2012 and 2015, including nationals from the U.S., Europe, New Zealand, and Japan. The group subjected them to brutal treatment including waterboarding, stress positions, and beatings and Elsheikh personally helped to detain and abuse hostages and negotiate ransoms. Four American hostages, who were journalists and aid workers, died in captivity. James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Kassig were beheaded – two of them on film – and Kayla Mueller was killed in disputed circumstances.
A Yazidi girl who was held captive with Kayla provided information on the young aid worker’s confinement during the trial. The girl, who was abducted and enslaved during ISIS’ genocidal campaign against Yazidis in 2014, met Kayla when they were both held in a prison in Raqqa before the two were enslaved by senior ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf. Together with his wife Umm Sayyaf, Abu Sayyaf enslaved Yazidi women and girls at his home and subjected them to torture, beatings, and rape. Kayla was repeatedly raped by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader at the time, at the Sayyaf house. The Yazidi witness was eventually able to escape, and her information led to a military raid on the house which resulted in Abu Sayyaf’s death and the arrest of his wife.
The Yazidi girl was one of 35 witnesses who testified during the trial. Other witnesses included 12 former hostages, including French journalist Nicholas Henin and Italian aid worker Federico Motka who detailed the ordeal captives had to endure. Several family members of the victims also described their suffering to the jury.
Victims’ families have long waited for justice. When Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey – another member of the “Beatles” – were captured in January 2018 by Syrian Democratic Forces and later transferred to U.S. military custody, the victims’ parents implored the former U.S. President to bring their children’s perpetrators to the U.S. to face trial. It almost did not happen. But ultimately the U.S. Attorney-General agreed not to pursue the death penalty against the two men, opening the door to evidence-sharing by the U.K. that facilitated the trial.
The parents of the hostages were in the courtroom when, after four hours of deliberations, the jury found Elsheikh guilty on all counts. In response to the verdict, James Foley’s mother, Diane Foley, said ‘[w]e finally have justice for these four brave Americans’ and that ‘[i]t’s the very opposite of what our children experienced — justice, not revenge’. Kayla Mueller’s father Carl also commented that ‘[a]s arduous and painful as this trial was, it was a privilege to be a part of it, and see the American justice system at work’.
Both men are facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks.
Faezeh Kamal and Zina Hajji, two members of the Yazidi Survivors Network (YSN), a group of survivors advocating inter alie for criminal justice for ISIS crimes in Iraq and internationally, said: “We demand coordinated efforts in the pursuit of justice. ISIS members and their families were all involved in crimes against us, torturing us and forcibly marrying us off. We are still waiting for redress.”
British barrister Amal Clooney, who represents a group of Yazidi women in a U.S. case against Umm Sayyaf, including women who were held captive with Kayla, commented on the conviction: “I am so happy for the victims’ parents who have waited for so long for this moment. This trial shows that justice is possible – if only it is prioritized. But most of ISIS’ victims are still waiting for their day in court and we need a concerted global effort if we are to see trials like this at the scale that this conflict deserves.”
Natia Navrouzov, Legal Advocacy Director at global Yazidi NGO Yazda, which is also represented by Ms. Clooney said, “The U.S. has been a great support to the Yazidi community and is taking here a good step towards justice for ISIS victims. We wish to see ISIS members also convicted in U.S. courts for crimes against Yazidis and are ready to support this process with the evidence we have collected.”
Background
Kotey pleaded guilty in September 2021. Elsheikh denied the charges. The trial against him started in late March and took 11 days to complete. Mohammed Emwazi, another close associate and alleged leader of the “Beatles” cell who carried out beheadings, was killed in a U.S. military airstrike in Syria in November 2015.
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