Washington — A U.S. judge on Friday was a member of an ISIS radical group called the Beatles, who led an American hostage at a hearing where a victim’s mother told defendants, “I don’t hate you.” Was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment.
TS Ellis, a US district judge in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally accused hearing of London-born Alexander Kotei, 38.
The hostages held by Kotey and his fellow militants called them the “Beatles” because of their British accent. The hearing included testimony from the victim’s relatives.
The family explained the fear of knowing that their loved ones were being captured and the sadness they felt in the aftermath of their death.
“I’m not going to hate you,” Cassig’s mother, Paula Cassig, told Kotei during the hearing. “It will give me too much sadness, pain and suffering. I choose to break my heart apart rather than break it apart.”
Kotey’s lawyer said in a court hearing that Kotey was meeting with some of the victims’ families to “make compensation.”
Ellis agreed to detain Kotei in Alexandria until July, stating that the arrangement would facilitate those meetings.
Kotei was a British citizen, but the British government withdrew his citizenship. His ISIS cell held journalists and aid workers hostage, tortured them, and circulated videotapes of horrific decapitation on the Internet.
Kotey admitted that he had tortured the hostages, including waterboarding and electric shocks from stun guns.
Kotey’s lawyers advise judges not to send Kotey to Supermax Prison in Colorado, known as ADX Florence, home to the world’s most dangerous criminals, including Mexican drug tycoon El Chapo. I asked for it.
Ellis refused to make any recommendations to the prison bureau about where the cottage would eventually be sent. This means that Kotey is likely to head to ADX Florence, but the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not yet decided where to send Kotey.
US officials advised British officials not to seek the death penalty for prosecutors. As part of Kotey’s petition agreement, US authorities have also agreed to do their best to transfer Kotey to a British prison 15 years later.
By Jan Wolfe
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