UK-born member of Daesh pleads guilty to role in beheadings

A British national has admitted in a federal courtroom that he played a leadership role in a Daesh scheme to torture, hold for ransom and eventually behead American hostages.

Alexanda Anon Kotey, 37, pleaded guilty to all eight counts against him at a plea hearing in US District Court in Alexandria.

The charges include hostagetaking resulting in death and providing material support to the Daesh group from 2012 through 2015.

He admitted guilt in connection with the deaths of four American hostages — journalist James Foley, journalist Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — as well as European and Japanese nationals who also were held captive.

Kotey is one of four Daesh members who were dubbed “the Beatles” by their captives because of their British accents. He and another man, El Shafee Elsheikh, were brought to the US last year to face charges after the US assured Britain that neither man would face the death penalty.

Elsheikh is still scheduled to go on trial in January. A third Beatle, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as “Jihadi John,” was killed in a 2015 drone strike. A fourth member is serving a prison sentence in Turkey.

The plea deal sets a mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole. After 15 years, though, he would be eligible to be transferred to the UK to face any possible charges there.

In the plea deal , he admits that life is an appropriate sentence in the UK as well. If he were to receive a sentence of less than life there, the deal requires that he serve the rest of his life sentence, either in the UK if that country will do so, or be transferred back to the US to serve the life term.

The deal also requires him to cooperate with authorities and answer questions about his time in Daesh. He would not, though, be required to testify at Elsheikh’s trial.

Kotey said he traveled to Syria to “engage in a military fight against the Syrian forces of Bashar Assad” and that he eventually pledged allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

“I accept I will be perceived as a radical who holds extremist views,” he said.

He acknowledged that he had participated in “capture-and-detain operations” to kidnap Foley and other Western hostages and that he led efforts to extract ransoms.

He described the acts of violence that were inflicted on the hostages as a necessary part of keeping them in line and persuading Western governments to pay ransom.

In the years after the hostages had been killed, he said he filled multiple roles within Daesh, including as a sniper and as director of a special forces training camp.

Prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick said at Thursday’s hearing that Kotey, Elsheikh and Emwazi were all friends at a young age in London, where they became radicalized.

In a statement, Raj Parekh, acting US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who is also a member of the prosecution team on the Kotey and Elsheikh cases, said the case has always been

Kotey admitted guilt in connection with the deaths of four American hostages — James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — as well as European and Japanese nationals who also were held captive.

focused on the victims and their families.

“Their resilience, courage, and perseverance have ensured that terror will never have the last word. The justice, fairness, and humanity that this defendant received in the US stand in stark contrast to the cruelty, inhumanity, and indiscriminate violence touted by the terrorist organization he espoused,” Parekh said.

Mueller also was raped by the Daesh leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, according to the indictment. Al-Baghdadi was killed by US forces in Syria in 2019.

Kotey and Elsheikh were captured in Syria in 2018 by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces while trying to escape to Turkey.

Family members of all four victims attended Thursday’s hearing and stood outside the courthouse afterward with prosecutors. They will have an opportunity to speak at Kotey’s formal sentencing on

March 4.