‘HUGE KICK IN TEETH’ FOR ISIS VICTIMS
‘Beatles’ terrorist avoids toughest prison in USA
EXCLUSIVE
BY US Editor
CONVICTED ISIS Beatle El Shafee Elsheikh has avoided being transferred to America’s most brutal supermax prison.
Instead of being sent to ADX Florence in Colorado, the 34-year-old is at the less restrictive USP Florence High, which shares the same site.
Despite the similar names, the two jails differ hugely in the conditions inmates experience. A US prison insider told the Mirror: “Quite how Elsheikh avoided the supermax none of the victim’s families know.
“They were sure he was to see out his days in ADX, but have been told he has been sent to the lesser penitentiary.
“It’s a huge kick in the teeth. The
supermax is reserved for the worst of the worse, and Elsheikh’s more than qualified. But he’s avoided being kept alongside some of the world’s most dangerous men and dying alone.”
During his sentencing in August, Elsheikh fought to serve his eight life sentences at a softer federal unit. His lawyers argued due to his mental health battles, it would be inhumane to send him to the supermax facilty.
Now, after being flown to Florence High in doublelocked handcuffs, belly chains and leg shackles, he will spend the rest of his life among a general prison population and not in solitary confinement.
His incarnation is similar to that of fellow ISIS Beatle Alexanda Kotey, who
brokered a deal with US prosecutors and pleaded guilty to terrorism charges sparring victims’ families from the ordeal of a trial.
Kotey is serving his life sentence in high-security USP Canaan in Waymart, Pennsylvania. Lawyers for Elsheikh, of Shepherd’s Bush, West London, stated in US court papers that he was: “An individual who is already showing signs of mental and physical deterioration from his detention.” Prisoners held at USP Florence High have included Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Elsheikh was found guilty in America in April on eight charges, including four counts of hostage-taking resulting in death, murder conspiracy and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organisation.
Hostages held by him and his fellow militants nicknamed them “The Beatles” due to their British accents.
Victims included Brit volunteers David Haines and Alan Henning and US aid workers Kayla Mueller, James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig.
Elsheikh, who was nicknamed Ringo, travelled with his friend Alexanda “George” Kotey, 38, to Syria, where they joined an affiliate of al-Qaeda in 2012.
Later, the pair swore allegiance to ISIS and joined up with fellow Brits Mohammed Emwazi and Aine Lesley Davis. Emwazi, dubbed Jihadi John, was killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a CIA drone in 2015.