A journalist once held by captors from the Islamic State group has told a US court of "sadistic" and "terrifying" tactics used against hostages.

Those in captivity were forced to sing a parody of the Eagles' pop song "Hotel California" retitled "Hotel Osama", Nicolas Hénin said.

It contained the lines: "you will never leave/if you try, you will die".

Mr Henning was the latest witness in the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh.

The IS militant cell was known as the Beatles because of their British accents.

An alleged member of the militant cell known as "Jihadi George," Mr Elsheikh, 33, is the highest profile IS fighter to face trial in the US, accused of kidnapping and conspiracy to murder.

The court on Wednesday heard from Mr Hénin, who was abducted in June 2013 while working in Raqqa, Syria.

He was blindfolded by men with AK-47s in the middle of the day and driven out of town, he said. When the blindfold was removed, he found himself alone in a cell, and would later come into contact with several other hostages.

Mr Hénin testified that he witnessed brutal torture and was himself beaten until unconscious by men believed to be the so-called Beatles.

The group have been linked to some 27 abductions and the murders of four Americans - journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

Prosecutors in the case argue that Mr Elsheikh was deeply involved in making ransom demands from the families of hostages for the group, and involved in the executions they carried out.

He is also charged with conspiring in the deaths of the British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

The defence, however, have said that the Sudanese-born Londoner was not part of the group and merely "a simple Isis fighter".

Mr Hénin said that he saw Mr Haines, who was starved and tortured so much that he "at first sight looked like somebody at a Nazi concentration camp", and Mr Foley, who was weak from "intense torture" and had had his ribs broken.

Another captive, the Danish journalist Daniel Rye Ottosen, was "a shadow of a man... so badly tortured that he was mentally and physically diminished". Wounds on his wrists were "so deep you could see his bones", Mr Hénin said.

He also encountered Ms Mueller, Mr Sotloff and Mr Kassig during his captivity, the Frenchman said. They arrived at various point during his detainment, he said, and were at one point held together in a small underground room they nicknamed "the Dungeon".

Mr Hénin was released in April 2014, but others were not so lucky.

Several family members of victims have testified about email exchanges with the captors as part of the prosecution's case.

Earlier on Wednesday, the father of Peter Kassig recounted receiving a letter from his son saying he "knew it was his time", predicting his death before he was executed.

Mr Elsheikh - on Wednesday wearing a white shirt and black face mask - sat back in his chair and listened intently to Mr Kassig's testimony, cocking his head slightly to look at the government's evidence, and making no eye contact with the witness.

He took extensive notes when Mr Hénin testified.

The trial continues, with as many as 50 witnesses expected.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Sam Cabral

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