The first trial on American soil of a major figure in the Islamic State (IS) group really begins on Wednesday near Washington, where a jihadist from a cell specializing in the capture and execution of Western hostages appears.
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The day after the selection of 18 jurors, including six alternates, prosecutors and lawyers for El Shafee el-Sheikh, 33, will cross swords for the first time in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Arrived in 2012 in Syria, he was part of a group of IS kidnappers nicknamed “the Beatles” by their prisoners because of their British accent. This quartet, active until 2015, made a name for itself by staging the beheading of hostages in unbearable propaganda videos.
Among their victims were four American nationals: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, which justifies the intervention of American justice.
But the “Beatles” are accused of having supervised the detention of at least 27 hostages, originating from about fifteen countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Japan, France, Denmark, New Zealand, Peru…).
Some of their former prisoners are expected to be called by the prosecution to tell of the abuse they endured while in custody.
A Yazidi woman, who was detained for several months with Kayla Mueller, could also be among the sixty witnesses expected during the three to four week trial.
Unlike her male compatriots, who were all executed, the young American had been delivered to the leader of the IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who reduced her to the role of a sex slave before killing her in 2015.
“The Most Brutal”
According to the indictment, the “Beatles” engaged in acts of torture on their captives, including simulated drowning and crucifixion or electrocution sessions.
According to former hostages, El Shafee el-Sheikh, alias “George”, was “the most brutal” of the group. He was “the leader: he decided who should live or die,” Spanish reporter Javier Espinosa, who spent six months in the hands of IS, told AFP.
Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, made a greater impression by appearing armed with a butcher’s knife in the films showing the execution of the hostages. But this executioner, who died in an American bombardment in 2015, “was only the muscles” of the group, according to the journalist.
For his part, El Shafee el-Sheikh was arrested by Syrian Kurdish forces in 2018 along with Alexanda Kotey, known as “Ringo”.
Before their transfer to the United States, he admitted, in interviews granted to several media, to having “interacted” without “compassion” with the hostages.
But he sought to minimize his role, describing himself mainly as an intermediary in charge of recovering the e-mail addresses of the relatives of the detainees to negotiate the ransoms.
Rows of seats
In September, Alexanda Kotey pleaded guilty to “taking hostages causing death”, hoping to serve part of her sentence – which will be handed down at the end of April – in the United Kingdom.
El Shafee el-Sheikh, who was stripped of his British nationality, continues for his part to say “not guilty”.
He faces an irreducible life sentence, the United States having agreed not to seek the death penalty in order to obtain judicial cooperation from London.
During his entire trial, four rows of seats will be reserved for former hostages and their relatives. Diane Foley, the mother of James Foley, or even Bethany Haines, the daughter of the British David Haines, have every intention of occupying them.
“We’ve been waiting for this trial for a long time,” Ms. Foley told AFP.
The fourth member of the group, Aine Davis, is in prison in Turkey where he was convicted of terrorism.