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Tag: sentenced

  • Elshafee El Sheikh: Ex-Briton ‘Isis Beatle’ sentenced to life in prison

    An Islamic State group militant from the UK has been sentenced to life in prison by a US court for his involvement with a terror cell.

    El Shafee Elsheikh, 34, was convicted in April of hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder US citizens, and supporting a terrorist organization.

    Addressing the Sudanese-born Londoner, the judge called his actions “horrific, barbaric, brutal and criminal”.

    Elsheikh was the highest profile IS fighter to stand trial in the US.

    His actions are said to have resulted in the deaths of four US hostages.

    Journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig were all kidnapped and killed at the hands of the cell.

    Hostage families expressed a mixture of gratitude and disappointment for the outcome. Standing outside the courthouse on Friday, James Foley’s mother, Diane, called the sentencing a “hollow victory,” but said that it did show that “US justice will find you wherever you are”.

    “Our country has lost four of its very best citizens. We families lost loved ones forever,” she said.

    The sentencing came on the eight-year anniversary of Foley’s death. Mrs Foley told the BBC that when she first heard of her son’s death she thought it was “some cruel joke”.

    Hostages said Elsheikh was part of a notorious cell nicknamed “the Beatles” – after the band – because of their British accents.

    Source: BBC news

  • R. Kelly trial: Witness testifies she was sexually abused by the singer

    A woman at the heart of R. Kelly’s second federal trial has testified that the R&B singer had sex with her “hundreds” of times before she turned 18.

    The 37-year-old woman, known as “Jane”, said that improper contact with Kelly began when she was just 13.

    The singer is on trial in Chicago for child pornography, obstruction of justice and other charges.

    His lawyers have insisted he is not “a monster” and deserves a fair trial.

    Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is facing 13 criminal charges including creating and receiving child pornography, obstruction of justice and enticing minors into sexual activity.

    He is already serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking and racketing in a separate trial held in New York last year.

    The current case rests in large part on the testimony of “Jane”, one of his accusers. Prosecutors allege that Kelly made at least four videos with Jane, parts of which will be shown to jurors.

    In court on Thursday, Jane testified that Kelly had sex with her “uncountable times” starting when she was 15. Jurors were shown photographs of her in high school to illustrate how young she appeared at the time.

    Over the course of her two-hour testimony, Jane described a number of sexual encounters that Kelly allegedly recorded. In one video, Kelly appeared to hand her money.

    When asked why, Jane alleged that Kelly believed that “if it was released for some reason, he [Kelly] would say I was a prostitute”, according to the Chicago Tribune.

    One of the videos was also at the centre of a separate 2008 trial in which Kelly and Jane both denied it was them in the tape. Kelly was ultimately acquitted on all charges.

    Asked about that earlier denial on Thursday, she told jurors that she ” was afraid something bad would happen to Robert”, according to the Associated Press.

    “I was protecting him.”

    Some analysts have characterised the current trial as a do-over of the 2008 trial, in which the singer faced 14 charges of child pornography.

    Two of Kelly’s former employees are also facing charges in this trial. Derrel McDavid, his former business manager, is accused of helping Kelly fix the 2008 trial, and Milton Brown is charged with receiving child pornography.

    Both men have pleaded not guilty.

    During opening statements earlier this week, attorneys for Kelly and the two former employees dismissed the charges and called on jurors to give Kelly a fair trial despite widespread public attention, and decried a “mob-justice” climate surrounding the case.

    Additionally, they alleged that some of those expected to testify were “criminals” who have previously “extorted him” and secured immunity deals from prosecutors.

    Source: BBC