Day, reliving the nightmare kayla mueller s mother wept on the stand as she read out ransom emails sent by elsheikh, saying the gang wanted millions for her daughter to be freed. former hostages who were released after the ransom was paid, described elsheikh and his accomplices as sadists who electrocuted, waterboarded and starved them. one said he tried to kill himself to escape. the defense tried to make out this was a case of mistaken identity, relying on the fact he always wore a full mask around hostages. in court when the verdicts came in, the families quietly wept and held each other s hands. there was an audible sigh of relief. it s taken nearly ten years for them to finally get justice. elsheikh showed very little reaction. he won t get the death penalty as part of a us uk extradition agreement, but he does now face spending the rest of his life in jail. nomia iqbal, bbc news, virginia.
Citizens went through. all of them have been in court every day, reliving the nightmare kayla mueller s mother wept on the stand as she read out ransom emails sent by elsheikh, saying the gang wanted millions for her daughter to be freed. former hostages who were released after the ransom was paid, described elsheikh and his accomplices as sadists who electrocuted, waterboarded and starved them. one said he tried to kill himself to escape. the defense tried to make out this was a case of mistaken identity, relying on the fact he always wore a full mask around hostages. in court when the verdicts came in, the families quietly wept and held each other s hands. there was an audible sigh of relief. it s taken nearly ten years for them to finally get justice. elsheikh showed very little reaction. he won t get the death