JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, in a Virginia federal courtroom, two of the most notorious ISIS
militants were charged with crimes stemming from the kidnappings and killing of four Americans
in Syria.
It's the beginning of a pursuit for justice that began with unspeakable horrors.
Nick Schifrin has the story.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For a group that symbolized barbarism and brutality, four British-born
men were among ISIS' most brutal terrorists and committed the group's most notorious crimes.
The U.S says the so-called Beatles helped capture, guard, torture, and execute journalists
and aid workers on camera. Their ringleader, known as Jihadi John, was killed in a 2015
U.S. airstrike, and two others were captured in 2018 by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who
liberated Northeast Syria.
Today those two, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey, landed in the U.S. and appeared
in federal court, charged with four counts each of hostage-taking resulting in death,
conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens outside the U.S., and conspiracy to provide material
support for terrorists. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Zach Terwilliger is the U.S. attorney for the Eastern district of Virginia.
ZACH TERWILLIGER, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia: Ensuring that truth
and justice find their way out of this tragic story would mean that the Islamic State will
never have the last word.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Among their alleged victims:, American humanitarian workers Peter Kassig
and Kayla Mueller, David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese citizens Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa,
and American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley.
DIANE FOLEY, Mother of James Foley: I feel this is a very important step towards a bit
of accountability. If there's no accountability, Nick, terror reigns.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Diane Foley is Jim's mother.
DIANE FOLEY: Part of Jim's legacy is having the moral courage to pursue the truth, pursue
justice for all of us, and to have the moral courage to pursue that no matter how long
it takes.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In 2019, U.S. special operations forces killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
who allegedly personally raped and tortured Kayla Mueller.
Today's announcement was years in the making. The U.S. needed a British court to release
British intelligence on the men, which it received only after Attorney General William
Barr sent this letter to London promising the U.S. would not pursue the death penalty.
This summer, in an interview broadcast on NBC News, the two men reversed previous denials
and admitted they helped imprison and abuse prisoners.
EL SHAFEE ELSHEIKH, Defendant: I have hit most of the prisoners.
NICK SCHIFRIN: They have maintained they can't get a fair trial, as in this 2018 interview
in Kurdish custody with the Associated Press.
EL SHAFEE ELSHEIKH: No fair trial when I'm the Beatle in the media, no fair trial, because
the jury or the judge or whoever is going to come to a decision has already been influenced.
It's too late.
DIANE FOLEY: These two men have been held now almost 20 months, as long as Jim was.
But the difference is that they have been housed and fed, have legal counsel, and now
will have a fair trial, in contrast to what our citizens went through when they were tortured,
raped, starved, and killed without any voice.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And for more about this case, we turn to assistant Attorney General for
National Security John Demers.
John Demers, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others have wanted these two men tried in
Guantanamo. Why are they being tried instead in Alexandria, Virginia, in a civilian court?
JOHN DEMERS, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security: Well, thanks, Nick,
for having me on here.
This is one of the most significant counterterrorism prosecutions that we have done in the past
several years here at the department. And in looking at the evidence, in discussing
this with our interagency partners, it was clear to us that, in this case, the best option
for justice for the families, for the victims and for all Americans was to try these two
defendants here in the U.S. in federal court, as we have tried hundreds of defendants in
federal court over the years very successfully.
NICK SCHIFRIN: How strong would you describe the government's evidence, and do you anticipate
a long trial?
JOHN DEMERS: Well, we believe our case is quite strong, or we wouldn't have brought
it.
And getting the evidence for -- from the U.K. has helped us strengthen the case, helps us
to tell a very full story. And we think we can put that on, together with the evidence
that we have, and obtain convictions.
NICK SCHIFRIN: You were just talking about the evidence that you have.
Can you talk about some of that evidence and the witnesses that you may have? Do you have
anything that proves what these men did firsthand?
JOHN DEMERS: I'm not going to go through all the evidence in a lot of detail here, Nick.
Obviously, we have to respect the process at this point.
But if you look through the indictment, you can see we make very specific allegations
about these individuals' radicalization in the U.K., these individuals' travel to Syria,
these individuals joining this ISIS cell, and then their participation in the hostage-taking
and ultimately the murders of these Americans, British, Japanese individuals in Syria.
So, yes, we will have evidence of all of that and be able to put that full story on in court
at the time of trial.
NICK SCHIFRIN: As you know, they have been giving interviews for years.
Finally, just a few months ago, they did admit to knowing these prisoners and even abusing
some of them. They have maintained, though, they can't get a fair trial because, essentially,
they are too notorious.
Can they get a fair trial?
JOHN DEMERS: Sure, they can.
That's the way our system works. And I trust the courts to ensure that they will get a
fair trial. I trust their prosecutors to ensure that as well. We have conducted fair trials
of many terrorists, many of them notorious here in the United States. And I think we
will do so again here.
NICK SCHIFRIN: When I was talking to Diane Foley earlier, she said that she hoped this
trial would produce more evidence, this would produce the ability perhaps even to capture
other terrorists.
Do you think that's possible?
JOHN DEMERS: Well, this investigation is still open, and it will continue. And so it's possible
that we will discover additional evidence and other individuals will come forward.
Today, we called on other countries that may have evidence also to come forward. And so,
we're hopeful that someone will. And I hope that Mrs. Foley is right.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you anticipate them pleading guilty?
(LAUGHTER)
JOHN DEMERS: That, I don't know. I don't know.
NICK SCHIFRIN: If you can try these two members of ISIS, who were born in Britain, in a civilian
court, can you try other high-profile terrorists in civilian courts, perhaps even including
those who are currently in Guantanamo?
JOHN DEMERS: So, we can and we have tried other high-profile terrorists here in civilian
court, including in the same court in Alexandria that these two individuals will be tried.
How -- whether we can do that in any given case depends on the facts of that case, the
nature of the evidence that we have. So, it's always a very case-specific analysis to make
that decision. And, in this case, we were able to conclude that, yes, we could try these
two individuals here in Alexandria in federal civilian court, and that that was the best
option for pursuing justice for the families and their victims.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And finally, John Demers, in about the 45 seconds or so I have left, for
those of us who were living in the Middle East at the time of these murders, for those
who have been following ISIS, we all know how extraordinarily impactful these murders
were.
How important is a day like today when it comes to thinking about how influential ISIS
once was?
JOHN DEMERS: Well, this is a very important day.
And we can never forget the terror, the horror of these murders and the way they used these
murders and the videotapes of these murders that they showed, as well as other grisly
executions and deeds, in order to terrorize the population there and to try to strike
fear in the hearts of the Europeans and the Americans that were there in theater.
The bottom line of today's prosecution is, they failed, that, ultimately, the ISIS state
is no more, that we were able to capture these individuals even many years later and bring
them here to justice.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, thank you
very much.
JOHN DEMERS: Thanks very much, Nick.