A terror cell member from the UK who was part of the Islamic State group has been given a life sentence in the US.
El Shafee Elsheikh, who was 34 years old, was found guilty in April of taking hostages, plotting to kill US citizens, and helping a terrorist group.
The judge told the Londoner who was born in Sudan that what he did was “horrible, barbaric, brutal, and illegal.”
The most well-known IS fighter to go on trial in the US was Elsheikh.
Four US captives are said to have died as a consequence of his activities.
The humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, as well as journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were all abducted and murdered by the gang.
Families of hostages expressed a mixed feeling of thanks and regret with the result. Diane Foley, James Foley’s mother, described the sentence as a “hollow triumph” as she stood in front of the courtroom on Friday. However, she said that it did demonstrate that “US justice will find you wherever you are.”
“Four of our nation’s greatest people have died. Families have lost loved ones for all time “She said.
On the day of Foley’s death’s eighth anniversary, the sentence was handed down. When Mrs. Foley first learned of her son’s death, she believed it to be “some horrible joke,” she told the BBC.
According to hostages, Elsheikh was a member of an infamous group known as “the Beatles” because to its members’ British accents.
The three alleged gang members, Elsheikh, Alexanda Kotey, and Mohammed Emwazi, all hail from west London and chose to fight for the Islamic State organization in Syria. They ended up defending Western captives.
According to US officials, the gang executed 27 captives.
After Kotey entered a guilty plea to the charges against him in September of last year and Emwazi was killed in a drone attack in Syria in 2015, Elsheikh was the only one of the three terrorists to go on trial in the US.
Elsheikh was found guilty in April after the 12-member jury debated for less than six hours over two days.
Former captives and their families testified throughout the arduous 11-day trial. On the witness stand, they painted the Beatles as a tight-knit group that delighted in cruelty.
Witnesses described being subjected to random beatings, being given dog names, and being made to perform “Hotel Osama,” an Eagles’ song parody.
Elsheikh was given eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release.
He has filed an appeal and disqualified his attorneys, indicating that he believes he was not given a fair trial.