ISIS ‘Beatles’ to face trial in January 2022 over torture and beheading claims

Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed "The Beatles,"

Credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Two British militants alleged to be part of the ISIS torture and execution squad known as “The Beatles” will face trial in the United States in January next year, a judge has ordered.

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey were captured in Syria in 2018, and were part of a diplomatic tug-of-war between the UK and the US, having been implicated in the killings of both British and American citizens.

Prosecutors said they will need three weeks to present their case and have already supplied more than 5,900 pages of documents and 27 disks or hard drives of evidence to the defence team.

The two men appeared in court in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington on Friday morning and will return to the courthouse next year for the trial.

Mr Kotey had a closely shaved head and a beard, while Mr Elsheikh had his long hair tied in a bun. They were both wearing dark green jumpsuits and face masks.

Mr Kotey and Mr Elsheikh have admitted holding and abusing hostages in a cell led by ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, dubbed Jihadhi John, and British Muslim convert Aine Davis.

Due to their English accents and their history together in the United Kingdom, the four men were often referred to as “The Beatles.” Emwazi was killed in an airstrike in 2015, while Davis is in prison in Turkey.

A “target” trial date has been set to start on January 18, 2022 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III.

Assistant US Attorney Dennis Fitzpatrick said prosecutors expect to need three weeks in court for their case, including testimony from witnesses from seven different countries.

According to allegations in the indictment, from 2012 to 2015, Mr Kotey and Mr Elsheikh were ISIS fighters and participated in the abduction of American and European hostages in Syria.

The men also allegedly engaged in a prolonged pattern of physical and psychological violence against their hostages, including against American citizens James Wright Foley, Kayla Jean Mueller, Steven Joel Sotloff, and Peter Edward Kassig and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.

Last October, when the men were charged, George Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said: “Their alleged acts have shattered the lives of four American families.

“What each of these families have sought more than anything else is for these defendants to have their day in court. Well, that day has come. While we cannot return their loved ones or undo the pain that these families face each day, we can do everything possible to ensure that the defendants are held accountable for their alleged savage actions.”

Both Mr Elsheikh and Mr Kotey have been stripped of their British citizenship but in March last year the Supreme Court ruled that evidence gathered by British investigators should only be admitted to a US trial if the death penalty is not sought.