U.S. authorities announced that jihadist Alexander Coti, one of four Britons in a kidnapping cell associated with the Islamic State known as "the Beatles," will plead guilty in a U.S. federal court to conspiracy charges related to the killing of four American hostages. The federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington D.C., published a notice late Tuesday stating that it would hold a hearing on Thursday afternoon specifically to change Alexander Coti's defense strategy. The former British citizen, 37, is expected to change his plea.
Coti and another member of the same jihadist kidnapping cell, El Shafee Elsheikh (33), were transferred from Iraq to the United States last October to stand trial for their involvement in the deaths of four American hostages—journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. The two jihadists were captured in January 2018 by Kurdish forces in northern Syria and handed over to the U.S. military in Iraq.
The United Kingdom refused to prosecute them on its soil and stripped them of their British nationality, but allowed their trial in the U.S. only after the U.S. confirmed that it would not seek the death penalty against them. On October 9, the defendants appeared via video from their prison before a judge, where they pleaded not guilty.
Coti's change in defense strategy from pleading not guilty to pleading guilty likely indicates that he has reached a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation. The "Beatles" jihadist cell consisted of four Britons, named by the hostages due to their accent. These individuals are suspected of having kidnapped American, European, and Japanese hostages in Syria from 2012 to 2015, torturing and killing them, including beheading.
The cell filmed the executions of its hostages in videos published by the Islamic State for propaganda purposes. The cell was led by Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John", who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria in November 2015. The last remaining member of this quartet, named Aine Davis, is imprisoned in Turkey on terrorism charges. According to the indictment, Alexander Coti and El Shafee Elsheikh supervised the detention sites of the hostages and coordinated negotiations for ransom payments via email, as well as committing "repeated acts of physical and psychological violence against the hostages."
