He was one of these faceless torturers of the Islamic State (IS) group: El Shafee el-Sheikh, was found guilty Thursday April 14 by a US court of having played a role in the kidnapping and death of four American hostages in Syria within the sinister "Beatles" cell.

Accused of being a member of this trio, so nicknamed by the hostages because of their British accent, he was tried in Alexandria, near Washington, for his role in the capture and death of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

His sentence will be pronounced later.

He faces life imprisonment.

Aged 33, El Shafee el-Sheikh chose to remain silent throughout this first major trial against the Islamist group in the United States, which lasted two weeks.

Through the voice of his lawyer, he admitted having joined the ranks of EI while denying being one of the "Beatles".

"Without compassion" with the hostages

For the prosecution, El Shafee el-Sheikh was "Ringo" while some hostages seemed to think he was "George".

He was never really identified as a member of the group by the ex-hostages called to the bar, who had always seen the members of this masked trio.

But in 2018 he admitted in interviews with reporters that he had "interacted" "without compassion" with hostages under his supervision and those of two "friends" he met in London, Mohammed Emwazi and Alexanda Kotey.

It was with the latter that El Shafee el-Sheikh was arrested in 2018 by Kurdish forces in Syria.

They had been transferred to the United States for trial but Alexanda Kotey chose to plead guilty and will be sentenced on April 29.

The other member of the group, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a drone attack in 2015. Nicknamed "Jihadi John", he was identified after appearing with a butcher's knife in IS propaganda videos featuring scene of the beheading of Western hostages.

With AFP

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