Member of IS 'Beatles' expected to plead guilty in US courtroom
Alexanda Kotey, a member of the brutal Islamic State cell linked to the kidnapping and killing of Westerners, is expected to plead guilty to one or more of the charges against him.
A former Islamic State (IS) member linked to the kidnapping and execution of several Americans is expected to change his plea to “guilty” in a federal courtroom on Thursday.
Court records show a “change of plea hearing” for Alexanda Kotey is scheduled at the Eastern District of Virginia federal courthouse in Alexandria on Thursday evening. Kotey, who was stripped of his British citizenship, has previously pleaded not guilty to hostage-taking and terrorism-related charges filed by the Justice Department last year.
Kotey and his co-defendant El Shafee Elsheikh were captured in eastern Syria by the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces in 2018. They were extradited to the United States from a detention center in Iraq last October.
Nicknamed “the Beatles” for their accents, Kotey and Elsheikh made up half of the notorious IS cell that the US government has tied to the murder of more than two dozen hostages, including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and American aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.
