A jury convicted Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law, Sulaiman abu Ghaith, 48, of conspiring to kill Americans. He faces life in prison when sentenced September 8.
This will be the only time the public will be able to watch a terrorism trial related to the 2001 terror attacks on The World Trade Center in civilian court. Abu Ghaith detoured the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after his arrest last year and was brought straight to New York. His trial started March 5th, not far from where the Twin Towers once stood.
Prosecutors said the case was an important one, as Abu Ghaith’s role was spokesman for Al Qaeda. Jonathan Cronan, assistant U.S. attorney said “This man was not Osama bin Laden’s puppet,” as he pointed his finger at Abu Ghaith, “He was not a robot.” Cronan pressed that Abu Ghaith was a high-ranking Al Qaeda leader, who was summoned to Bin Laden’s cave in the mountains outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on the evening of September 11,2001. There, Abu Ghaith was asked to deliver a rousing speech heralding the killings and urging young Muslims to stage more attacks, Cronan said.
“Al Qaeda’s purpose was to murder American, and the defendant was all in,” Cronan said as Abu Ghaith listened through an interpreter. Stanley Cohen, Abu Ghaith’s defense attorney, ousted the government’s case as based not on evidence but on recordings and videos. “It was intended to sweep you away… in anguish and pain,” said Cohen, comparing the prosecution’s case to a movie. “The movie’s over, the lights are back on, and we’ve walked out of the theater. Let’s look at the evidence,” he said, before dismissing the government’s allegations as “speculation” and its witness as liars or frauds.
Videos were repeatedly shown to the jury during the trial of Abu Ghaith seated next to Bin Laden and two other Al Qaeda leaders, justifying the attacks. Deliberation lasted five hours before convicting Abu Ghaith of conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support to terrorists.
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