A member of the notorious ISIS ‘Beatles’ terrorist cell has been given eight life sentences for his role in the beheadings and deaths of four American hostages who were also beaten and tortured.

British national El Shafee Elsheikh is the highest-ranking member of the terror group to ever be convicted in a US Court. His cell was named the Beatles for their British accents.

The judge said he was involved in “horrific, barbaric, brutal and criminal” actions while guarding hostages taken captive between 2012 and 2015, when ISIS controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

The convictions revolved around the deaths of four American hostages: James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. All but Mueller were executed in videotaped beheadings circulated online.

Mueller was forced into slavery and raped multiple times by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before she was killed.

US authorities say the group beheaded 27 hostages in total.

ISIS ‘Beatle’ El Shafee Elsheikh.

Elsheikh and the other ‘Beatles’ played a key role in the hostage negotiations, getting captives to email their families with demands for payments.

They also routinely beat and tortured the hostages, forcing them to fight each other to the point of passing out, threatening them with waterboarding and forcing them to view images of slain hostages.

Elsheikh was sentenced to eight life sentences to be served concurrently with no option for parole.

“This prosecution unmasked the vicious and sadistic ISIS Beatles,” said First Assistant US Attorney Raj Parekh at his sentencing hearing in US District Court in Alexandria.

The life sentence was a foregone conclusion after a jury convicted him of hostage taking resulting in death and other crimes earlier this year.

The US agreed not to pursue the death sentence as part of a deal that ensured extradition of Elsheikh and his friend, Alexanda Kotey, who has already been sentenced to life.

Mr Parekh said it was difficult to convey the brutality of Elsheikh’s actions.

“We lack the vocabulary of such pain,” he said, paraphrasing Dante’s Inferno.

Diane Foley (L), the mother of James Foley, and Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of Kayla Mueller after the sentencing. Photo: Getty

Victims of Elsheikh and the Beatles testified at Friday’s hearing and gave voice to what they experienced.

Danish photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen, who was released after paying a ransom, said the worst moments were times of silence during and after captivity when he was alone with his thoughts.

He said when Elsheikh and the Beatles beat him up, it was almost a relief.

“Now I knew I could only concentrate on my pain, which is much easier than being alone with your thoughts,” he said.

Ottosen was particularly close to Foley, and memorised a goodbye letter that Foley wrote to his family so he could dictate it to Foley’s parents when he was released.

Foley’s mother, Diane Foley, said holding Elsheikh accountable at trial sends a message of deterrence to other would-be hostage takers.

“Hatred truly overwhelmed your humanity,” she told Elsheikh on Friday, which was the eighth anniversary of James Foley’s beheading.

At trial, surviving hostages testified that they dreaded the Beatles’ appearance at the various prisons to which they were constantly shuttled and relocated.

Elsheikh maintained his silence at the hearing, his only request — which was refused — was not be sent to ADX in Colorado, a supermax prison where inmates are kept largely in solitary confinement.

He will be appealing the sentence and has already disqualified his lawyer, claiming he did not receive a fair trial.

-with AAP