El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, a Londoner accused of being “Ringo” in the notorious IS terror cell
(Picture: )Hostages of a “sadistic” Islamic State terror cell were forced to sing a sick parody of the Eagles song ‘Hotel California’ retitled ‘Hotel Osama’, a journalist has told a US court.
Nicolas Hénin was among Western detainees subjected to “terrifying” torture by the group dubbed the ISIS Beatles, who held mock executions and administered brutal beatings.
The French journalist gave evidence at the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, a Londoner accused of being “Ringo” in the notorious terror cell.
Mr Hénin was abducted in Raqqa, Syria, in June 2013 by men brandishing AK-47s, and told the court how he managed to escape – only to seek help from IS fighters.
He was returned to captivity, beaten, and "hung in the air for a couple of hours" with his hands and feet chained together, he said.
The journalist, who spent 300 days in captivity, was held alongside British aid worker David Haines, who was starved and tortured until he “looked like somebody at a Nazi concentration camp".
Mr Hénin said US journalist James Foley was left weak from "intense torture", while another detainee had wounds so deep you could see the bone.
He described the reworked Hotel California song, including the lyrical reference to checking-in and never leaving with the line “If you try, you’ll die Mr Bigley style" – a reference to British engineer Ken Bigley who was beheaded in 2004 by Al-Qaeda.
A letter penned by one of the murdered hostages, Peter Kassig, was also read to the packed Virginia courtroom by his father Ed.
"Dad, I’m paralyzed here. I’m afraid to fight back. Part of me still has hope. Part of me is sure I’m going to die”, he wrote.
The aid worker said he was ignoring the captor’s propaganda that they had been abandoned by their families: “Don’t worry Dad, if I do go down I won’t go thinking anything but what I know to be true, that you and Mom love me more than the moon!"
Elsheikh denies conspiracy to murder and kidnapping charges, insisting he was merely an IS foot-soldier. The trial continues.
