One of two men accused of helping kidnap Americans killed by the Islamic State is expected to enter a guilty plea on Thursday, according to court records made public Tuesday.

       Alexanda Kotey was extradited from Iraq last year along with another Islamic State recruit, El Shafee Elsheikh; both were charged with hostage-taking resulting in death, conspiracy to support a terrorist organization and related charges.

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       Records in federal court in Alexandria show a judge has scheduled a “change of plea hearing” for Kotey on Thursday, indicating he has reached an agreement to enter a guilty plea. The details of the agreement, including the charges involved, are not yet public. A guilty plea is not final until it is entered in court and approved by a judge.

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       Kotey and Elsheikh — both born in Britain — have previously admitted to joining the Islamic State in Syria and interacting with hostages, including in interviews with The Washington Post. But they claimed they had no knowledge in advance that the hostages would be killed and could not stop it from happening. Federal prosecutors have accused them of involvement in both the torture and murder of hostages, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

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       As part of an agreement to obtain evidence against the pair gathered by British authorities, the U.S. government is not seeking the death penalty against either Kotey or Elsheikh.

       U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh, who is one of the prosecutors on the case, declined to comment. Federal public defender Geremy Kamens, whose office represents Kotey, also declined to comment.

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       Hostages called Kotey, Elsheikh and two others “the Beatles” because of their British accents. The most infamous of the group, known as Jihadi John, was killed in a drone strike in Syria in 2015. The fourth was imprisoned in Turkey in 2017.

       Elsheikh and Kotey were captured by Kurdish forces in Syria in 2018. They were transferred to Iraq by the U.S. military in October 2019 amid Turkey’s invasion of northeast Syria. All four traveled to Islamic State territory from homes in London.

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