Elsheikh appeared in the federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday wearing a gray jumpsuit, a facemask and glasses. Family and friends of his victims were asked to make statements in front of the judge.
"Hatred completely overtook your humanity," Foley's mother, Diane said, later breaking down in tears. "I pity you. I pray your time in prison will give you a time to reflect." Friday marked the eighth anniversary of Foley’s beheading.
The head of the London police's Counter Terrorism Command, Richard Smith, said in a statement the victims' families "have shown remarkable fortitude and bravery in giving their accounts of what happened to investigators, and in court."
The charges against Elsheikh, whose British citizenship was withdrawn in 2018, carried a potential death sentence, but US prosecutors had previously advised British officials that they would not seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors argued that a life sentence was needed to prevent Elsheikh from causing future harm and to set a precedent that such crimes will get strict punishment.
"The Beatles were genuine psychopaths," First Assistant US Attorney Raj Parekh argued in court on Friday during the hearing, adding that Elsheikh was the highest-ranking member of the Islamic State to ever be convicted in a US Court.
Another cell member, Alexanda Kotey, also a British, was sentenced to life in prison by a US judge earlier this year. Kotey was held in Iraq by the US military before being flown to the United States to face trial. He pleaded guilty last September to the murders of Foley, Sotloff, Kassig and Mueller.
A third member of the group, Mohammed Emwazi, died in a US-British missile strike in Syria in 2015.
Some former hostages, released by the cell after protracted negotiations, testified during trials about the torture they endured. Family members of those killed also testified.
