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El Shafee Elsheikh, a 33-year-old former British nationwide – he had his citizenship stripped – is on trial in Virginia accused of involvement within the killing of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and assist staff Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. His attorneys say it’s a case of mistaken id
A French journalist held by the Islamic State in Syria testified on Wednesday that he and different hostages have been pressured by their captors to sing a wicked parody of the Eagles track ‘Resort California’ known as ‘Resort Osama.’
‘It was terrifying for us, a joke for them,’ Nicolas Henin stated on the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, a 33-year-old former British nationwide.
Elsheikh is accused of involvement within the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and assist staff Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.
Henin is considered one of a number of former hostages who’ve testified on the trial in federal court docket of the alleged member of the infamous IS kidnap-and-murder cell generally known as the ‘Beatles.’
Henin stated the phrases to ‘Resort Osama’ included the unique lyrics from ‘Resort California’ about checking in however by no means leaving, however with a twist.
‘In case you attempt, you may die Mr Bigley fashion,’ the lyrics went – a reference to British engineer Kenneth Bigley, who was beheaded in 2004 by Jordanian Abu Musab Zarqawi, head of the Al-Qaeda terror community in Iraq.
Henin stated he was captured in June 2013 on his fifth reporting journey to Syria.
On Thursday, a former Docs With out Borders (MSF) employee held for 3 months testified to the significantly brutal therapy meted out to American and British hostages.
Frida Saide, a Swede, revealed particulars of her captivity on the seventh day of the trial.
Saide stated she arrived in Syria in November 2013 to work as a hospital administrator and lived in a home with 9 worldwide colleagues.
Swedish assist employee Frida Saide (left) and French journalist Nicolas Henin have been captured by ISIS in Syria and held hostage
The testimony got here within the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, 33 (pictured in a court docket room sketch on April 1) and ‘The Beatles’ – so-called as a result of they have been all from the UK – who’re stated to have captured 26 hostages between 2012 and 2015 in Syria
Kayla Mueller (pictured) was kidnapped by ISIS terrorists whereas on a visit to Syria along with her boyfriend in 2013. She was later pressured to marry the terrorist group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Carl Mueller, the daddy of hostage Kayla Mueller, is pictured at court docket on Thursday
Kassig, 26, – in any other case generally known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig – in Syria wrote a letter to his father shortly earlier than his loss of life. The letter was learn out in court docket on Wednesday
Kassig was murdered in October 2014 by ISIS fighters in Syria
She and 4 different MSF staff – two ladies and two males – have been seized by a bunch of armed males on January 2, 2014, she informed the court docket.
‘I went to take a bathe,’ Saide stated.
‘I might hear loud voices from outdoors.
‘I believed it was our guards, then realized we have been attacked.’
She stated a masked man broke down the door, threw her some garments and took her outdoors, the place she was blindfolded, handcuffed and put right into a automobile.
For the primary month, Saide stated she and her MSF colleagues have been moved amongst varied prisons and positioned with different Westerners taken hostage by IS.
She stated that on January 31, 2014, three British guards arrived – the so-called ‘Beatles’ – and ‘that utterly modified every part.’
She stated a number of the male prisoners who had been held and tortured by the ‘Beatles’ described them as ‘social psychopaths with no ethical boundaries.’
‘We realized quickly it was an correct description,’ she stated.
‘They have been very aggressive in the direction of us, very hateful,’ she stated.
‘They handled Individuals the worst after which the British,’ she stated. ‘However they hated all of us.’
Foley and Kassig have been singled out for significantly harsh therapy.
Henin was held alone for 2 days in a toilet however managed to flee by breaking bars on the home windows with a brush.
After operating the entire evening, he arrived at a village at daybreak and spoke to 2 males in pyjamas.
‘Sadly they have been IS fighters,’ he stated.
Returned to captivity, he was overwhelmed and brought outdoors and ‘hung within the air for a few hours’ together with his fingers and toes chained collectively.
Henin was later positioned with different hostages together with Frenchman Pierre Torres and Danish photographer Daniel Rye Ottenson.
Launched French hostages converse to the media upon their arrival on the Villacoublay army airbase on April 20, 2014 in Paris. From left: Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres
Diane and John Foley, the mother and father of James Foley, an American journalist murdered by Islamic State militants, are seen on the trial final week
Michael Foley, brother of James Foley, departs for a break from the trial on the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse on Tuesday
James Foley is pictured whereas protecting the civil warfare in Aleppo, Syria
British assist employee David Haines and Italian aid employee Federico Motka arrived later.
After being taken to a different jail, three guards arrived someday talking with British accents.
Haines and Motka informed the opposite hostages they have been the ‘Beatles,’ Henin stated, utilizing the nickname given to the jihadist jailers due to their British accents.
‘They have been terrified,’ he stated of Haines and Motka. ‘Shaking.’
They have been later joined by Sotloff, Foley, John Cantlie, a British journalist captured with Foley, Toni Neukirch, a German citizen, and 5 Docs With out Borders (MSF) staff.
He stated the Beatles would come round a few times every week, ‘generally for a spherical of beatings.’
After his launch in April 2014, Henin supplied the authorities with info that was utilized in a rescue try.
‘I spent a very long time with companies, describing the situation, giving particulars to the individual answerable for making ready the raid,’ Henin stated.
Alexanda Kotey and Shafee Elsheikh, in these undated handout photos in Amouda, Syria launched on February 9, 2018. The pair had been captured the month earlier than. Kotey pleaded responsible in September 2021 and is dealing with life in jail
The fourth suspected ‘Beatle’, Aine Davis, is pictured in 2014. He’s presently serving a jail sentence at a Turkish jail
Left: US freelance journalist Steven Sotloff. Proper: Kayla Mueller is proven after chatting with a bunch in Prescott, Arizona. Each have been killed in Syria by ISIS
Marsha Mueller, proper, the mom of American assist employee Kayla Mueller, is pictured on Wednesday outdoors the courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia
The US-led rescue mission was launched on July 4, 2014 however the hostages had been taken elsewhere simply days earlier.
‘That they had been moved previous to the operation,’ stated Robert Daniel Story, an FBI particular agent who was concerned in preparations for the raid and took the witness stand after Henin.
‘We have been very disenchanted,’ Story stated.
The ‘Beatles’ held not less than 27 international hostages in Syria between 2012 and 2015.
Quite a few European journalists and assist staff have been launched after ransoms have been paid however the Individuals – Foley, Sotloff and Kassig – have been killed and movies of their murders launched by IS for propaganda functions.
Mueller was reportedly handed over to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who allegedly raped her repeatedly earlier than killing her.
Elsheikh and one other former British nationwide, Alexanda Amon Kotey, have been captured in January 2018 by a Kurdish militia in Syria.
They have been turned over to US forces in Iraq and flown to Virginia in 2020 to face costs of hostage-taking, conspiracy to homicide US residents and supporting a international terrorist group.
Kotey pleaded responsible in September 2021 and is dealing with life in jail.
‘Beatles’ executioner Mohamed Emwazi was killed by a US drone in Syria in 2015, whereas the fourth member of the cell, Aine Davis, is imprisoned in Turkey after being convicted of terrorism.
Elsheikh has denied the fees, and his attorneys declare his arrest is a case of mistaken id.
The ISIS Beatles, together with Jihadi John, the ringleader who shared beheading movies on-line and killed harmless British assist staff
Jihadi John
Mohammed Emwazi – Jihadi John
Emwazi was one of the vital outstanding members of the so-called ISIS Beatles and was frequently seen finishing up executions of their horrific beheading movies.
He took half within the barbaric beheadings of British assist staff David Haines and Alan Henning and US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and US humanitarian employee Peter Kassig.
The terrorist, who was born in Kuwait and grew up in Queen’s Park, West London, was charged with 27 counts of homicide and 5 counts of hostage taking in November 2014.
He was killed in a Hellfire missile drone strike in Syria in 2015.
Jihadi Paul
Aine Lesley Davis – Paul
Davis was born Aine Leslie Junior Davis in 1984 to Fay Rodriquez, and is believed to have spent the early years of his childhood in Hammersmith, London, the place his mom lived.
He was considered one of 13 youngsters his father had by 4 completely different ladies.
The previous tube driver, who has drug-dealing and firearms convictions to his identify, transformed to Islam whereas in jail.
In 2014 his spouse, Amal el-Wahabi, was convicted of funding terrorism after she persuaded a good friend to try to smuggle £16,000 ($21,000) in money in her underwear to him.
Davis was captured by Turkish safety officers in 2015 and was later discovered responsible of being a senior member of a terrorist group and was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail.
Alexanda Kotey
Alexanda Kotey – George
Kotey, 38, was born to a Ghanaian father and a Greek Cypriot mom and grew up in Shepherd’s Bush, London.
Earlier than his radicalization, he’s thought to have labored as a drug seller earlier than changing to Islam in his early 20s.
In 2012, he left for Syria the place the US claims he was concerned in beheadings and identified for administering ‘exceptionally merciless torture strategies’, together with digital shocks.
He’s additionally accused of performing as an ISIS recruiter who satisfied numerous different British extremists to hitch the fear group.
Kotey was captured in Syria whereas making an attempt to flee to Turkey in 2018 and was held in a US army heart in Iraq.
The British Authorities wished him tried within the US, the place officers consider there’s a extra practical probability of prosecution than within the UK.
He was extradited final 12 months and was charged with numerous terror offenses.
El Shafee Elsheikh
El Shafee Elsheikh – Ringo
Born in Sudan, Elsheikh, 33, grew up in West London and is the ultimate member of the 4 British terrorists who fled to hitch ISIS.
He has been linked to the killings of numerous hostages after heading to Syria to hitch the extremist group.
He was captured together with Kotey after they tried to flee to Turkey in 2018 and has since been transported to the US the place he now faces costs referring to terrorism and beheading Western hostages.
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