ALEXANDRIA, Va.—A U.S. federal judge on Friday sentenced a member of an ISIS terrorist cell known as “The Beatles” to life in prison for involvement in a hostage-taking plot that led to the killings of American journalists and aid workers in Syria.
Families and friends of the four Americans killed and of other hostages previously detained by the terrorist group looked on as District Court Judge T.S. Ellis sentenced El Shafee Elsheikh, 34, to life without parole, calling his behavior “horrific, barbaric, brutal, and of course criminal.”
A jury in April concluded the former British citizen was part of an ISIS cell, nicknamed “The Beatles” for their English accents, that beheaded American hostages in areas of the Middle East controlled by the terrorist group. He was found guilty on four counts of hostage-taking and four counts of conspiracy after a two-week trial….