Isis ‘Beatle’ pleads guilty to role in terror beheadings
- Alexanda Kotey and co-accused El Shafee Elsheikh allegedly abducted American, European and Japanese hostages in Syria from 2012 to 2015
- Kotey, a former British national, and Elsheikh allegedly tortured and killed their victims, including by beheading
Alexanda Kotey, a member of the notorious Islamic State kidnapping cell dubbed the “Beatles”, pleaded guilty on Thursday in a US court to charges of conspiring to murder four American hostages.
The federal court in Alexandria, Virginia outside Washington had posted a notice this week for a “change of plea” hearing for Kotey, a former British national and one of two kidnap cell members brought to the United States for trial.
Kotey, 37, and El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, were flown from Iraq in October to face trial for involvement in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
After the two suspects were captured in January 2018 by Syrian Kurdish forces in Syria, they were turned over to US forces in Iraq.
Britain, which did not want to put them on trial at home, stripped them of their UK nationality.