A member of the infamous ISIS execution squad dubbed “The Beatles” is scheduled to plead responsible Thursday to charges linked to the “brutal hostage-getting scheme” in Syria, courtroom data display.
Alexanda Amon Kotey, 37, is a single of two British nationals brought to the US previous yr to experience fees linked to torture and behead Western hostages in Syria, which includes American journalist James Foley.
The Specially Selected Worldwide Terrorist is now scheduled to show up in US District Court docket in Alexandria, Virginia, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday for a “change of plea hearing,” federal courtroom information clearly show.
The listing does not, having said that, element the particular demand or charges to which Kotey is envisioned to confess. The Justice Section formerly promised not to request the death penalty, in order to secure his extradition.
The indictment accuses him of a “brutal hostage-using scheme” that included “kidnapping and torturing American citizens and nationals of other countries” as element of a “propaganda campaign” for ISIS.
They consist of the deaths of 4 People — journalist James Foley, journalist Steven Sotloff and help personnel Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller — as properly as European and Japanese nationals.
Kotey was charged together with fellow British citizen El Shafee Elsheikh. Nothing at all in the courtroom records signifies a plea is remaining transformed by Elsheikh, who is scheduled to go on demo in January.
Before their arrests, they admitted in interviews that they were being component of the large-profile squad dubbed “the Beatles” since of their British accents. They also whined about how tough it would be to get a reasonable trial.
Mohammed Emwazi — who turned recognised as “Jihadi John” — was killed in a 2015 drone strike. A fourth member is serving a jail sentence in Turkey.
Prosecutors say the adult males worked intently with a main spokesman for IS who noted to the group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a U.S. navy operation past yr.
Raj Parekh, performing U.S. Lawyer for the Jap District of Virginia and also a member of the prosecution workforce on the Kotey and Elsheikh conditions, declined comment Tuesday evening.
Geremy Kamens, a federal community defender who signifies Kotey, also declined remark.
With Write-up wires