IS militants accused in case of slain Pinecrest journalist are brought to U.S.
WASHINGTON
Two Islamic State militants from Britain were brought to the United States on Wednesday to face charges in a gruesome campaign of torture, beheadings and other acts of violence against four Americans and others captured and held hostage in Syria, the Justice Department said.
El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are two of four men who were called “the Beatles” by the hostages because of the captors’ British accents. The two men made their first appearance Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where a federal grand jury issued an eight-count indictment that accuses them of being “leading participants in a brutal hostagetaking scheme” that resulted in the deaths of Western hostages, including American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley. Sotloff was from Pinecrest.
The charges are a milestone in a yearslong effort by U.S. authorities to bring to justice members of the group known for beheadings and barbaric treatment of aid workers, journalists and other hostages in Syria. Startling for their unflinching depictions of cruelty and violence, recordings of the murders were released online in the form of propaganda for a group that at its peak controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq.
The case underscores the Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting in American civilian court militants captured overseas, said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, who vowed that other extremists “will be pursued to the ends of the earth.” The defendants’ arrival in the U.S. sets the stage for arguably the most sensational terrorism trial since the 2014 criminal case against the suspected ringleader of a deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
A public defender was appointed to represent both men at the hearing. Geremy Kamens, who heads the public defender’s office in Alexandria, declined to comment after the hearing.
Prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick said five of the eight counts against the men carry a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
The men are charged in connection with the deaths of four American hostages — Foley, journalist Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — as well as British and Japanese nationals who were also held captive.
The pair face charges of hostage-taking resulting in death and other terrorismrelated counts. Because of a recent concession by the Justice Department, prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty.
Sotloff