The “Beatles” of the organization “Islamic State”, which was active in Syria from 2012 to 2015, oversaw the detention of at least 27 journalists and humanitarian workers from around the world.
Article written by
Posted on 4/29/2022 8:01 PM Updated on 4/29/2022 8:11 PM
Reading time: 1 min
The British accent he shared with the other members of his group had earned them the nickname “Beatles”. Alexanda Kotey, a member of a kidnapping cell of the Islamic State (IS) group, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a federal court in the United States on Friday, April 29.
This 38-year-old former British citizen pleaded guilty in September, admitting responsibility for the deaths of four American hostages in Syria and more generally for the kidnapping and torture of some twenty Westerners.
Also a member of this cell, El Shafee el-Sheikh, who was arrested with him by Syrian Kurdish forces in 2018, was found guilty in April after a grueling trial and will be sentenced this summer.
The “Beatles” of the organization “Islamic State”, active in Syria from 2012 to 2015, oversaw the detention of at least 27 journalists and humanitarian workers from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, Japan, New Zealand and Russia. A dozen were executed and their deaths were staged in IS propaganda videos that shook the world.