GUILTY VA - LE use voice recognition, social media, to find militant in UK & US beheading video, *Arrests*

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BBC Two - In the Face of Terror, Series 1, Episode 1
Oct 5 2020
'We can't let her down again: we have to find her'
''Kayla Mueller's parents: 'We can't let her down again'
Kayla Mueller's parents: 'We can't let her down again'
American aid worker Kayla Mueller was only 24 years old when the so-called Islamic State (IS) took her hostage in 2013.

She had travelled to the Syria-Turkey border to help refugees.

After 18 months in captivity, IS claimed she had been killed by a Jordanian airstrike, but the US maintains she died at the hands of the terrorist group.

With no definitive proof about what happened to Kayla, her family is still carrying out their own search for answers.''
 
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Painting to honor Kayla Mueller unveiled in Phoenix
''PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A painting to honor the late Kayla Mueller was unveiled in Phoenix on Thursday.''
''The painting commemorates the 2019 raid, named for Kayla, that killed ISIS terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The painting will be displayed at the Arizona State Capitol, where the public can view it

ISIS fighters charged in deaths of American journalists and aid workers in Syria
Two high-profile ISIS fighters have been indicted on terrorism charges related to the hostage-taking and deaths of four Americans, the US government announced Wednesday.
This ceremony was held two days after ISIS fighters were charged in Kayla's death.
A humanitarian aid worker, the 26-year-old Mueller was taken hostage in August 2013''
 
imstilla.grandma said:
Reporter's Notebook: Peter Kassig's selfless aid and brutal murder left a profound impact on this journalist
Click to expand...
Such a wonderful young man!
From link..
''Peter’s mother, Paula, tells me he often took his guitar onto a Beirut bus with him, where he would sit and strum, spreading smiles. Even though nobody looked like him, he made connections where none existed before. And, much like taking a seat on that bus, life is about taking a seat at a table where no one else looks like you.''

''It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and burdened by the grief in this world -- but we can’t control everything. We can control only who we choose to be and where we choose to go.

Peter didn’t go to Syria believing he was going to end the war. He was simply doing the best he could with the time he was given. That’s the legacy I’ll always remember.''
 
When two suspected ISIS fighters nicknamed “the Beatles” were hauled before a US court last month, facing charges over the brutal killing of four American hostages, it was hailed as a landmark step in bringing members of the despised terror group to justice.

But for 38-year-old Maisa Salih, and the other relatives of the more than 8,300 Syrians who were abducted by ISIS and are still missing, the long-awaited trial brought no comfort.

Despite her family’s visceral hatred for ISIS, major blows against the terror group – last year’s territorial defeat of the caliphate, and the killing of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – have only added to their torment.

“If there is no ISIS, then where are our loved ones?” she said. “Where are the thousands of people that have been kidnapped by ISIS? Our victory will be when we get information.”

Salih’s family has been living a nightmare since her sister Samar, the youngest of five siblings, was abducted by ISIS in the Syrian town of Atarib on the outskirts of Aleppo in August 2013.

Samar, aged 24 and working as a human rights activist and relief worker who had joined the uprising against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, was walking back from a friend’s house with her fiancé, Mohamed Al-Abdalla, and her mother, when three large cars with tinted windows sped towards them.

Four armed, masked men jumped out, grabbed Samar and Mohamed by the hair and beat them, before bundling them into the car and racing away. Their unknown abductors later made contact with the Salih family using Samar and Mohamed’s Facebook and Skype accounts, initially pretending to be the missing couple, before subsequently saying they were from ISIS, and threatening the family. They never made contact again.
ISIS Kidnapped Their Loved Ones. Now They Might Be Their Only Hope To Find Them.
 
Brit charged in terror beheadings scheduled to plead guilty

One of two British nationals charged with joining the Islamic State group and conspiring to torture and behead American and European hostages in Syria is scheduled to plead guilty to criminal charges.

Federal court records show a change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, for Alexanda Amon Kotey.
 
Sept 1 2021
''A British man alleged to have joined an Islamic State subgroup dubbed "The Beatles" is expected to plead guilty in a US court case. Alexanda Amon Kotey was charged with joining IS and conspiring to torture and behead American and European hostages in Syria. Court records show a change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Thursday but do not indicate the specific charge or charges to which Kotey is expected to plead. Kotey is alleged to be one of four Islamic State members who were nicknamed “the Beatles” by their captives because of their British accents.''
 
Islamic State 'Beatle' pleads guilty to murdering U.S. hostages


London-born Alexanda Kotey is one of two Islamic State members who were held in Iraq by the U.S. military before being flown to the United States to face trial on terrorism charges.

Appearing before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis at a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, Kotey pleaded guilty to the murders of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

The charges carried potential death sentences, but U.S. authorities have advised British officials that American prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against Kotey.


Ellis said that under a tentative arrangement between U.S. and British authorities, Kotey could be transferred to Britain after 15 years' imprisonment. The Justice Department said in a statement that given that Kotey agreed to life imprisonment without parole, if the sentence he serves in the U.K. is less than life for any reason, Kotey agreed "to be transferred back to the United States to serve the remainder of his sentence."
 
rbbm.
Canadian Islamic State figure charged with supporting terrorist group - CityNews Toronto
Oct 2 2021
''A leading Islamic State media figure and foreign fighter has been charged in U.S. federal court in Virginia with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, federal officials said Saturday.

Mohammed Khalifa, a Saudi-born Canadian citizen who was a leading figure in the Islamic State of Iraq, was captured overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2019, federal officials said. He was recently transferred into FBI custody, at which point he was first brought to the Eastern District of Virginia.

“As alleged, Mohammed Khalifa not only fought for ISIS on the battlefield in Syria, but he was also the voice behind the violence,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Through his alleged leading role in translating, narrating, and advancing ISIS’s online propaganda, Khalifa promoted the terrorist group, furthered its worldwide recruitment efforts, and expanded the reach of videos that glorified the horrific murders and indiscriminate cruelty of ISIS.”

''Khalifa, 38, served in prominent roles within the Islamic State starting in 2013 and continuing until his capture by the SDF in January 2019 following a firefight between Islamic State fighters and the SDF, officials said.

In addition to allegedly serving as an Islamic State fighter, Khalifa allegedly served as a lead translator in the group’s propaganda production and the English-speaking narrator on multiple violent recruitment videos.''

''Prosecutors say Khalifa played an important role in producing and disseminating Islamic State propaganda across multiple media platforms targeting Western audiences.''

''ISIS narrator revealed as Canadian''
Feb 18, 2019
''The man who was the voice behind some of ISIS’s best-known videos is a Canadian citizen who grew up in the Toronto area, the New York Times has confirmed. Mohammed Khalifa spoke at length to a reporter and says he has “no regrets.”
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/27/elsheikh-trial-islamic-state-hostages/

The only trial in U.S. court for a member of an infamous terrorist cell is set to begin Tuesday, as El Shafee Elsheikh stands accused of taking part in the capture and murder of journalists and aid workers by the Islamic State.

Elsheikh, 33, was one of four ISIS militants who traveled to Syria from London and whose British accents led prisoners of the terrorist group to label them the “Beatles.” Some of those prisoners were released in exchange for ransom money from foreign governments. When countries would not pay, their hostages were slain — some beheaded on videos that were broadcast around the world.
 
rbbm
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Aid Worker Held Hostage By ISIS For 14 Months Testifies Against Alleged Captor In US Court (unilad.co.uk)
''Federico Motka was held captive by ISIS executioners for 14 months. During Elskeikh's trial, Motka described his conditions after being taken hostage near the border of Turkey and Syria in 2013; more specifically, explaining 'the box'.

He said, as per the New York Post: "They gave us dog names. We needed to come and immediately respond," or else he would be beaten by his captors.

Motka is the first surviving hostage to testify at Elsheikh’s trial. Two other aid workers – Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller – were also taken hostage, along with four Americans, including journalists James Foley and Steven Soloff, all of whom were killed.

Motka recalled having to fight Foley and another British hostage, John Cantile, in a 'Royal Rumble' fight in 'the box'.

He said: "They were super excited about it. We were so weak and shattered we could barely lift our arms."

''It's believed the group 'engaged in a prolonged pattern of physical and psychological violence against the hostages', employing torture methods such as electric shocks, mock executions and waterboarding for those who lost the fights.

Despite Elsheikh's denial, with lawyers citing how he was fully masked when around hostages, prosecutors have argued he participated in the 'unrelenting and unpredictable abuse'.''
FPF74i4XEAIHSaH
 
April 6 2022
Witnesses describe hostages’ despair at Brit’s terror trial | The Star
''ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — By May 2014, American hostage Peter Kassig was losing hope that he would survive his captivity at the hands of the Islamic State group.

“Dad, I’m paralyzed here. I’m afraid to fight back. Part of me still has hope. Part of me is sure I’m going to die,” he wrote to his father, Ed Kassig, who read the letter from the witness stand Wednesday at the terrorism trial of British national El Shafee Elsheikh.

The testimony left many in the courtroom fighting back tears in what’s so far been a two-week trial that has detailed in gruesome ways the brutality inflicted on more than 20 Western hostages held captive by the Islamic State roughly a decade ago.

Even the judge, T.S. Ellis III, appeared to be fighting back tears as he called an early recess in the proceedings immediately following Kassig’s testimony.

Elsheikh — better known as one of “the Beatles,” a moniker given by the hostages to several of their captors who spoke with distinctive British accents — is accused of taking a leading role in the hostage-taking scheme that resulted in the deaths of four Americans: Kassig, James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Kayla Mueller. Kassig, Foley and Sotloff were beheaded in videos distributed across the world. Mueller was raped by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed.
Kassig’s long, handwritten letter was delivered to his family by a released hostage. Peter Kassig wrote that his captors tried to tell him and the other hostages that they had been abandoned by their families and their countries for refusing to meet the Islamic State’s demands.''
 
Brit convicted as 'Beatle' in Islamic State beheadings trial

Kotey will be formally sentenced April 29. Elsheikh will be sentenced Aug. 12. But on Thursday the judge in the two cases, T.S. Ellis III, ordered that Elsheikh appear at Kotey's hearing as well so that he will hear victim impact testimony that will presented ahead of Kotey's sentencing.
 
Islamic State 'Beatle' sentenced to life for murdering U.S. hostages

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally charged sentencing hearing for London-born Alexanda Kotey, 38, who pleaded guilty to murdering U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.
 
July 30 2022
torontosun.com

U.S. judge gives life term to Canadian ISIS propagandist

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A Canadian citizen who led propaganda efforts for the Islamic State group and personally executed two Syrian soldiers in widely circulated…
torontosun.com torontosun.com
''FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A Canadian citizen who led propaganda efforts for the Islamic State group and personally executed two Syrian soldiers in widely circulated videos was sentenced to life in prison Friday by a U.S. judge.''

''Prosecutors sought the life sentence for Mohammed Khalifa, 39, a Saudi-born Canadian who held prominent roles for the Islamic State group from 2013 until his capture in 2019.

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Khalifa played a key role in the group’s successful efforts to recruit tens of thousands of foreign fighters to defend its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

In two notorious propaganda videos titled “Flames of War,” Khalifa can be seen shooting Syrian soldiers in the back of the head after they dug their own graves. He also narrated the videos.''
 
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