[NYPOST] A member of the ISIS terrorist group known as "The Beatles" was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in the kidnapping of more than 20 Westerners and the horrific killings of four Americans. The Islamic fanatic, El Shafee Elsheikh, was convicted in Virginia federal court in April on charges including lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder.
The jury concluded Elsheikh — who was born in Sudan and raised in London — conspired to kill four Americans in his role as one of ISIS Beatles.
The victims were journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were each killed in videotaped beheadings that were publicized by the terrorist network that sought to create a caliphate in Iraq and Syria during the B.O. regime.
Mueller was held captive by ISIS and repeatedly raped by the terror network’s founder, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to US officials. She was later killed in Syria.
"Hatred truly overtook your humanity," Foley’s family said in a statement on Friday, according to the BBC. "But you too have lost — your freedom, your citizenship and family contact. We have all lost."
Judge T.S. Ellis blasted the terrorist before handing down the life sentence Friday in the Alexandria courtroom, the BBC reported.
The judge called his actions "horrific, barbaric, brutal and criminal," according to the report.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...as part of a deal that ensured extradition of Elsheikh and his friend, Alexanda Kotey, who has already been sentenced to life.
Elsheikh did not speak during Friday’s hearing. His lawyer, Zachary Deubler, said Elsheikh will appeal his conviction. Elsheikh’s lawyers had argued that his confessions should have been ruled inadmissible because of alleged mistreatment after he was captured by Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces in 2018.
At Friday’s hearing, Deubler confined his arguments to a request that Elsheikh not be sent to the supermax prison facility in Florence, Colorado, where he would face solitary confinement for the rest of his life. Deubler said a designation to Florence is almost a certainty unless the judge recommends otherwise.
Judge T.S. Ellis III declined to make any recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons.
| Dawn adds: |