Sitting in court docket throughout Elsheikh’s trial in Alexandria, Virginia was Diane Foley, the mom of American journalist James Foley, who was murdered by ISIS in 2014.
“I’m relieved and extremely grateful that justice prevailed,” Diane Foley informed me after the decision.
In 2012 James, aged 39, was a contract photographer overlaying the struggle in Syria. While he was touring to the Turkish border in 2012, he was kidnapped. It has been a decade-long seek for some measure of justice for Diane and her household in addition to the households of the opposite American hostages held by ISIS, Steven Sotloff, Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig, who had been additionally killed once they had been held by the terrorist group.Diane, who’s 72, labored as a household nurse practitioner earlier than turning into a widely known advocate for hostages held all over the world by way of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which she based. Our dialog was flippantly edited for readability. (Disclosure: I used to serve on the board of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and journalists in struggle zones. My spouse Tresha Mabile now serves on the board.)
Bergen: What’s your response to the decision?
Foley: Well, I’m relieved and extremely grateful that justice prevailed. It was not a straightforward case to show as a result of members of ISIS had been very savvy about their safety. They at all times wore black hoods. They additionally at all times made the hostages flip away from them once they got here within the cell. They knew the right way to cowl their tracks and defend their identities. So, it was a troublesome case to show, and it actually required Scotland Yard in addition to the FBI and the perfect of our prosecuting attorneys to make this occur. It was fairly a feat in some ways.
Bergen: Were you shocked that Elsheikh was discovered responsible on all counts?
Foley: I wasn’t shocked, however I used to be involved that it was robust for witnesses to bodily establish him as a result of he was at all times hooded. So, he actually protected himself and it was not straightforward to show past an inexpensive doubt that he was one of many brutal Beatles.
But he actually implicated himself due to the media interviews he gave earlier than he was in US custody and due to among the interactions he had together with his brother in London.
Bergen: The interviews that he gave was when he was first in custody within the Middle East helped implicate him?
Foley: Yes, Elshikh had accomplished media interviews over the interval of 18 months, and so the prosecution was very skillfully in a position to make use of his personal statements relating to what had occurred with the 4 Americans that ISIS held.
Bergen: What do you suppose essentially the most damaging statements that he made freely in these interviews had been?
Foley: Well, he very freely talked about the truth that he obtained an e mail tackle from a hostage. He freely admitted a variety of a variety of what he did. And he was good pals with different ISIS members Alexanda Kotey and Mohamed Emwazi (referred to as “Jihadi John”). They had been pals from London. And then he boasted to his brother in London about among the horrible, horrible issues they did.
Bergen: Did you ever suppose that they’d get inside a US courtroom and be tried?
Foley: Well, we saved hoping. The FBI saved telling us that they had been amassing info. Scotland Yard actually was additionally doing so, however this actually was a group effort with a variety of dedicated individuals on each side of the Atlantic working to make this occur. When the Trump administration’s Attorney General William Barr waived the loss of life penalty, that was an enormous step as a result of that allowed us to work along with the Brits to actually make this occur and get a powerful case.
Bergen: Because the Brits wouldn’t permit Elshiekh to come back to the United States if the loss of life penalty was on the desk?
Foley: Yes, plus the Brits would not be allowed to share their necessary proof. Our Department of Justice felt we actually wanted their implicating proof too. When Barr took the loss of life penalty off the desk, then we had been capable of safe the British proof. Our prosecuting group actually wished to show how into all this violent jihad Elsheikh was, and he was sending info to his older brother in London utilizing some form of an encrypted app. So, Scotland Yard was capable of get these actual texts and even pictures of what he despatched to his brother.
Bergen: What was the response to the responsible verdicts within the courtroom?
Foley: Well, aid, exhaustion, deep gratitude on my half. The prosecution labored on this for years. So, it has been a very long time coming, and we’re significantly grateful as a result of mercy and justice prevailed. We did not use any armed drones or bombs to attain accountability. We had been capable of show in a courtroom past an inexpensive doubt that Elsheikh was, in truth, responsible. Now, he’ll be capable to spend the remainder of his life incarcerated and be capable to ponder what he did. And who is aware of, perhaps he’ll be remorseful in some unspecified time in the future?
Bergen: It is uncommon for someone to have been concerned in these kidnappings and murders to be prosecuted efficiently?
Foley: It is. Impunity is what usually occurs, and that is why that is such an enormous deal, as a result of with none accountability, this terror continues, proper?
Bergen: Are there different factors that may be necessary for CNN’s readers to grasp?
Foley: Well, I believe the most important one is that there are 60-plus publicly identified circumstances of US nationals at present in the identical state of affairs [that Jim, Steve, Kayla, and Peter were in, and I can’t help but think how many Americans must die before our country prioritizes their return.
This trial was very expensive. And it was a victory for justice, yes, and for accountability, yes, but it didn’t bring our kids home, and we have more than 60 US nationals really counting on our country to find ways to negotiate their freedom.
Bergen: These detainees are held both by authoritarian regimes and by terrorist groups?
Foley: Yes. But most are held by states at this moment, by the Russians, the Syrians, the Iranians, Venezuela, and China. Because they’re states, it makes it more complicated because negotiations involve much more than ransom or even the exchange of prisoners. There’s often lots of other things other countries want from the United States. So, it makes it incredibly complicated but incredibly important that we get them out as soon as possible because we are finding the longer, they’re held, the more the captors want from our government.