El Shafee Elsheikh, British ISIS member, convicted on all counts for deadly kidnapping plot
CBSSep 09, 2022
The Facts
On Fri., a US judge sentenced UK-born Alexanda Kotey to life in prison. Kotey was convicted last year on terrorism charges while El Shafee Elsheikh, one of his co-conspirators, was in attendance.
Elsheikh, who traveled to Syria in 2013 to fight for IS, was found guilty on all counts in a Virginia courtroom last month and also faces life in prison. He's set to be sentenced later this year.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Elsheikh and Kotey are unrepentant sadists, who are finally being held accountable for the crimes they committed during their tenure as IS terrorists. As the first trial of major IS figures on US soil, this is an example to the rest of the world.
Establishment-critical narrative
Though this trial is a good start, it's not enough by itself. There are still thousands of IS prisoners in Syria who are being indefinitely detained by local forces. The US needs to do more to repatriate these individuals and prosecute them for their crimes instead of leaving them for Kurdish forces to deal with.