A jury in Alexandria, Virginia, Thursday convicted a member of the brutal ISIS terror cell known as “The Beatles.” The group was particularly savage, even by terrorists’ standards, and reportedly beheaded three hostages while subjecting a fourth to unimaginable cruelty.

The group was dubbed “The Beatles” because of their British accents. The charges included lethal hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder.

According to Reuters, the convicted terrorist, whose name I don’t care enough to type, could have faced a possible death sentence. Prosecutors, however, have indicated they will only seek life in prison. Why?!

RedState’s Bonchie in a 2019 article described how the two surviving members of the group angled to get extradited to the United States instead of facing a judge in Iraq, where they doubtless would have been treated more harshly. (A third member, known as “Jihadi John,” was blown away in a Hellfire missile drone strike in Syria in 2015. Another was caught by Turkish security and sent to prison.)

The remaining pair refused to accept responsibility for their crimes. CNN interviewed them in 2018:

Confronted by CNN with the fact several of their former hostages and alleged victims had said they recognized their faces and voices from previous interviews, Elsheikh declined to comment on what he said would be a legal matter. “It’s just an accusation, legally speaking. You know, if Britain said ‘we are going to deal with you by barbaric law, or with law from the medieval ages,’ then hang, draw and quarter me. But that’s not the case. I’m just merely pointing that out.” Kotey offered a similarly veiled denial and refused to be drawn on specific allegations.

The group’s alleged atrocities are perverse and difficult to read. According to Fox News:

The group tortured and beat prisoners, forcing them to fight each other until they collapsed and even made them sing cruel song parodies. Surviving hostages testified that the captors delighted themselves rewriting “Hotel California” as “Hotel Osama” and making them sing the refrain “You will never leave.”

Their victims will never walk the earth again, and the victims’ families will never see their loved ones again.  At least we won’t be seeing any more of these two outside of prison walls, either.