Kidnapped by IS Javier Espinosa, #prisionero43
A member of the so-called "Beatles" of the Islamic State
who beheaded foreign hostages, was sentenced this Friday to life in prison
.
Judge Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced London-born Alexanda Kotey, who pleaded guilty to murdering American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.
The hostages held by Kotey and his fellow militants
nicknamed them "The Beatles" because of their British accent
.
The hearing included
hours of emotional testimony from the families of the victims
.
The charges carry a mandatory life sentence, but Ellis made a recommendation that Kotey's correctional facility should hold him separately from other inmates in near-solitary confinement.
In a court filing, Kotey's attorneys urged Ellis
to consider Kotey's admission of guilt
and his agreement to provide information to US investigators.
Authorities warned British officials that prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty against Kotey.
Kotey was a citizen of the United Kingdom
, but his citizenship was revoked by the British government.
His Islamic State cell took journalists and aid workers hostage, tortured them and distributed videotapes of gruesome beheadings on the Internet.
Kotey admitted to torturing the hostages with drowning and electric shocks
.
Another member of the "Beatles", El Shafee Elsheikh, was tried last month.
After four hours of deliberations, a federal jury in Virginia found Elsheikh guilty on charges including deadly hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder.
Ellis will also sentence Elsheikh in September.
A third member of the "Beatles" group, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a missile attack in Syria in 2015.
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