British Isis ‘Beatle’ is jailed for life in US
Jihadi Ringo guilty over beheading of hostages
A BRITISH Islamic State fighter who was a member of the notorious ‘Beatles’ terror cell was yesterday jailed for life in the US.
El Shafee Elsheikh, 34, known as Ringo, is said to have been responsible for the deaths of four Americans as the group beheaded 27 hostages.
He was found guilty in April of taking captives, conspiracy to murder US citizens and supporting a terrorist organisation. The charges against him carried a potential death sentence, but American prosecutors advised British officials that they would not seek this.
Elsheikh was handed a life sentence for each of the eight charges for which he was found guilty, to run concurrently. The
‘Justice will find you wherever you are’
Sudanese-born Londoner was the highest profile IS fighter to stand trial in the US. He was told by the judge that his actions were ‘horrific, barbaric, brutal and criminal’. Journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig were all kidnapped and killed by the cell, dubbed The Beatles because its four members had British accents.
Mr Foley’s mother Diane last night called the sentence a ‘hollow victory,’ but said it did show ‘US justice will find you wherever you are’. She added: ‘Our country has lost four of its very best citizens. We families lost loved ones forever.’ Elsheikh did not speak during yesterday’s hearing in Virginia.
His lawyer said he will appeal against the convictions and argued that he should not be sent to a maximum security prison where he would spent the rest of his life in solitary confinement.
It emerged this week that Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, 38, were identified as members of the terror cell by Scotland Yard officers who realised the pair had been arrested during a protest in London in 2011.
Kotey, known to hostages as George, was jailed for life in April after admitting torturing hostages in Syria between 2012 and 2015, when the cell were said to have captured civilians from 12 countries, including British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
Assistant US attorney Raj Parekh said: ‘ These series of crimes are as grave, as sadistic, and as utterly reprehensible as it gets. The circumstances under which they occurred are the most aggravating they could be.’
He added: ‘This systematic brutality included mock executions, waterboarding, sustained beatings, stress positions, orders to fight each other and other shocking acts of violence while the victims were also starved and forced to live in squalid conditions.’
The cell’s ringleader, Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, was killed in a 2015 drone strike.
A fourth alleged member is in custody in Britain charged with terror offences.
Elsheikh grew up in White City, west London, after his family arrived from Sudan in 1993 when he was five.
He left Britain and arrived in Syria in 2012. He was joined there by his friends from London – Emwazi and Kotey.
Scotland Yard Commander Richard Smith said last night: ‘This is one of the most significant international terrorism cases ever brought to trial.
‘These were some of the most barbaric terrorist acts ever seen, carried out with chilling callousness and brutality.’