“I am relieved and extremely thankful that justice prevailed,” Diane Foley advised me after the decision.
Bergen: What is your response to the decision?
Foley: Smartly, I am relieved and extremely thankful that justice prevailed. It used to be no longer a very simple case to turn out as a result of individuals of ISIS have been very savvy about their safety. They all the time wore black hoods. Additionally they all the time made the hostages flip clear of them after they got here within the cellular. They knew methods to quilt their tracks and offer protection to their identities. So, it used to be a hard case to turn out, and it actually required Scotland Backyard in addition to the FBI and the most productive of our prosecuting legal professionals to make this occur. It used to be rather a feat in some ways.
Bergen: Had been you stunned that Elsheikh used to be discovered responsible on all counts?
Foley: I wasn’t stunned, however I used to be involved that it used to be difficult for witnesses to bodily establish him as a result of he used to be all the time hooded. So, he actually safe himself and it used to be no longer simple to turn out past an affordable doubt that he used to be one of the vital brutal Beatles.
Bergen: The interviews that he gave used to be when he used to be first in custody within the Heart East helped implicate him?
Bergen: What do you suppose essentially the most destructive statements that he made freely in the ones interviews have been?
Bergen: Did you ever suppose that they might get inside of a US court docket and be attempted?
Foley: Smartly, we stored hoping. The FBI stored telling us that they have been amassing data. Scotland Backyard indisputably used to be additionally doing so, however this actually used to be a staff effort with numerous dedicated other people on either side of the Atlantic operating to make this occur. When the Trump management’s Lawyer Normal William Barr waived the demise penalty, that used to be a large step as a result of that allowed us to paintings along side the Brits to actually make this occur and get a powerful case.
Bergen: For the reason that Brits would no longer permit Elshiekh to return to the US if the demise penalty used to be at the desk?
Bergen: What used to be the response to the responsible verdicts within the court docket?
Foley: Smartly, aid, exhaustion, deep gratitude on my phase. The prosecution labored in this for years. So, it is been a very long time coming, and we are in particular thankful as a result of mercy and justice prevailed. We did not use any armed drones or bombs to reach duty. We have been ready to turn out in a court docket past an affordable doubt that Elsheikh used to be, actually, responsible. Now, he will have the ability to spend the remainder of his existence incarcerated and have the ability to contemplate what he did. And who is aware of, perhaps he will be remorseful sooner or later?
Bergen: It’s uncommon for someone to were considering those kidnappings and murders to be prosecuted effectively?
Foley: It’s. Impunity is what typically occurs, and that’s the reason why that is any such large deal, as a result of with none duty, this terror continues, proper?
Bergen: Are there different issues that might be necessary for CNN’s readers to know?
Foley: Smartly, I believe the most important one is that there are 60-plus publicly recognized instances of US nationals lately in the similar scenario [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.
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.
