Ex-hostages, relatives seek accountability at IS 'Beatles' trial

Former hostages and relatives of victims are seeking justice, accountability and perhaps even some solace as the trial of a member of the brutal Islamic State (IS) kidnap-and-murder cell known as the "Beatles" gets underway.

Jury selection began on Tuesday in the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, accused of involvement in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

The 33-year-old Elsheikh, the most high-profile IS member to face justice in the United States, is charged with hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder US citizens and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

Several former hostages of the Britons dubbed the "Beatles" because of their British accents are expected to testify, and some family members of their victims plan to attend the trial in federal court in Alexandria.

"This has been a long time coming," said Diane Foley, whose son James, a freelance journalist, was abducted in Syria in 2012 and murdered two years later.

"Accountability is essential if we're ever going to stop hostage-taking," said Foley, who worked tirelessly to try to secure the release of her son.

"We have to show that we're different," she told AFP. "Jim received no fairness. There was no justice. Jim had not committed a crime.

"So I feel it's very important that we show the opposite," she said. "He should have his day in court... to show what a fair trial looks like."

Elsheikh and another former British national, Alexanda Amon Kotey, 37, were captured by a Kurdish militia in Syria in January 2018.

They were turned over to US forces in Iraq and flown to Virginia in October 2020.

Kotey pleaded guilty and is facing life in prison while Elsheikh chose to fight the charges.

- 'Monstrous injustice' -

Kotey and Elsheikh's four-member jihadist cell was allegedly involved in the abductions of at least 27 people in Syria from 2012 to 2015, mostly Westerners.

The "Beatles" allegedly tortured and killed some of their captives, including by beheading, and released videos of the murders for propaganda purposes.

Mohamed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John," was killed by a US drone in Syria in November 2015, while the fourth "Beatle," Aine Davis, is imprisoned in Turkey.

Nicolas Henin, a French journalist held for nearly 10 months by IS in 2013 and 2014, described his captivity as a "monstrous injustice."

Henin, now an author and consultant, said it is "very important that all of the people who took part in this terrorist enterprise be punished."

He said he was relieved that Elsheikh is being tried in open court rather than sent to the US military base at Guantanamo, where some detainees from the "war on terrorism" are still being held.

"Open and transparent" justice is the antithesis to the "completely arbitrary nature of terrorism," Henin told AFP.

Javier Espinosa, a Spanish journalist who was held hostage for six months in Syria, including three months by Elsheikh and his accomplices, hopes the trial will expose the "terrible things that they did."

"And to teach other people that this was unjustified," Espinosa said, "that they were not doing this in the name of any kind of religion.

"They were just exercising power," he said. "And it was brutal, and it had no justification."

The El Mundo reporter regretted it has taken so long for Elsheikh to face his day in court.

"It should have been faster because a lot of people have forgotten about Syria," he said. "The message is going to be lost in the middle of this Ukrainian war."

- 'We need to support one another' -

Diane Foley plans to attend Elsheikh's trial.

"We need to support one another," she said of the families of the victims.

Also present will be Bethany Haines, 24, whose father, David, a British aid worker, was also murdered by IS.

"I've prepared for this for years," Haines told the Sunday Times. "I want to be able to see him at all times; to see his facial expressions."

If Elsheikh is convicted, Haines and others would have an opportunity to present victim impact statements before the judge hands down his sentence.

Haines told the Sunday Times she would plead with Elsheikh "to do the right thing" and reveal where the remains of her father and other hostages can be found.

"Don't do it for me," she said she will tell him. "Do it for my son, so that he can finally say goodbye to his grandad."

Henin is expected to be called as a prosecution witness, as he was at the 2019 trial in Belgium of a French jihadist Mehdi Nemmouche.

"I didn't expect it but it was kind of cathartic," he said.