(AP) A federal judge in Virginia has tentatively scheduled a January 2022 trial for two [British] militants charged with being part of an Islamic State group that tortured and beheaded American and European hostages in Syria.
A jury trial for El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey is set to start on Jan. 18, 2022. U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III scheduled that “target” date during a hearing on Friday, saying it “seems more than reasonable to me.”
The two men, along with other British jihadis, allegedly made up the IS cell nicknamed “The Beatles” by surviving captives because of their English accents.
Kurdish forces captured them in January 2018 in eastern Syria amid the collapse of IS, as they tried to escape into Turkey. Their detention set off a debate in the U.S. and Europe over how to prosecute them.
