United States: one of the British jihadists of the EI sentenced to life imprisonment
El Shafee el-Sheikh, one of the four members of the group of British jihadists "Beatles" of the IS in Kobané, March 30, 2018. © Hussein Malla/AP
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El Shafee el-Sheikh, a member of the Islamic State group, is sentenced to life in prison.
He was a member of this IS cell specializing in the capture, torture and execution of Western hostages.
He will therefore spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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With our special correspondent in Alexandria, Virginia,
Guillaume Naudin
This is simply the maximum possible in this very particular case.
US federal justice wanted to try El Shafee el-Sheikh for his role in the kidnapping, detention and eventual death of four US citizens.
Except that he is British, like the other members of the group, nicknamed the "Beatles" by their prisoners precisely because of their English accent.
There have therefore been long negotiations with the United Kingdom, which does not provide for the death penalty.
The United States, where it is possible, finally committed not to apply it.
Sentenced on a symbolic day
At the end of a difficult trial during which former hostages of the group came to testify, the judge said that the defendant had behaved "
horribly, barbaric, brutal and criminal
".
This sentence comes eight years after the broadcast of the beheading of American journalist James Foley by the man who was later nicknamed Jihadi John and who was killed in a drone strike.
James Foley's mother Diane Foley said after the court that the families of the four victims had obtained some justice.
His family and that of Steven Sotloff, another journalist, as well as those of aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller hope that the US government will do more in the future to quickly bring back Americans held hostage abroad.
►Also read: Interview - Arrest of jihadist Aine Davis: "He was mainly in a role of preaching"
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