British ISIS kidnapper faces justice in US
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – El Shafee Elsheikh, member of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS), to be tried in a US court on Tuesday on charges of involving in the murder of 28 British, American and foreign hostages in Syria between 2014 and 2015.
The 33-year-old Elsheikh is from Shepherd’s Bush, west London. He is one of four British ISIS members who traveled to Syria from London and whose British accents led prisoners of the terrorist group to label them the “Beatles.”
The federal court in Alexandria, US, is to prosecute Elsheikh because of the deaths of four Americans who were reporting on or supporting victims of the Syrian war — journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
Elsheikh is also an alleged kidnapper of David Haines, a former RAF engineer, who was a humanitarian aid worker in Syria when he was abducted in 2013. Footage of his murder was shared around the world.
The White House now has a special envoy for hostage affairs, a position that did not exist when the hostages were killed by the ISIS.
Elsheikh had said the killings were planned and carried out by others at the behest of ISIS leadership. He is accused of conspiracy to commit murder, but also hostage-taking resulting in death, conspiracy to commit hostage-taking resulting in death, and conspiracy to support a terrorist group resulting in death.
Elsheikh was born in Sudan and raised in London with his mother and two brothers. He spent three years in the Army Cadet Force, a military-backed youth group and worked as a mechanic.
Elsheikh fell under the influence of a radical West London imam. He went to Syria in 2012, and his younger brother, Mahmoud, joined him a few years later. Mahmoud was later killed fighting for the ISIS in Iraq. Elsheikh’s another brother had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a deadly dispute.
Reporting by Sara Youssef