Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was an al-Qaeda spokesman after 9/11, has been sentenced to life in prison for terrorism-related charges at a trial in New York.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since 9/11 attacks.
The Kuwaiti clergyman was captured in Jordan last year and brought to the US.
In March, a jury found Sulaiman Abu Ghaith guilty of conspiracy to kill Americans and aiding al-Qaeda.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since 9/11 attack
Addressing him directly, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said it was his “assessment that you are committed to doing everything you can to carry out al Qaeda’s agenda to kill Americans”.
Videos showing Sulaiman Abu Ghaith threatening America with no end to the “storm of airplanes” were shown to jurors.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith argued his role was a purely religious one, aimed at encouraging all Muslims to rise up against their oppressors.
He testified that Osama bin Laden had asked him to be al-Qaeda’s spokesman on the night of the 9/11 attacks.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is one of the highest-ranking al-Qaeda linked figures to face a civilian jury on terrorism-related charges, is married to Osama bin Laden’s eldest daughter Fatima.
Osama bin Laden, a founder of al-Qaeda, was killed by US forces in May 2011 at his hideout in Pakistan.
The trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith has begun in New York.
The prosecutor has said Sulaiman Abu Ghaith used the “murderous power of his words” to rally others against America after the 9/11 attacks.
The statement came during opening arguments in the terrorism trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who once served as al-Qaeda’s spokesman.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, has pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired to kill Americans.
The Kuwaiti national was brought to New York from Turkey last year.
Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith once served as al-Qaeda’s spokesman
Prosecutors say Sulaiman Abu Ghaith appeared in videos with Osama bin Laden the day after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington DC that killed almost 3,000, calling for jihad against “the Jews, the Christians and the Americans”.
Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Lewin described Sulaiman Abu Ghaith as a fiery orator who had spoken to those training in al-Qaeda camps in the months before the attacks in order to inspire them.
Nicholas Lewin said Sulaiman Abu Ghaith had agreed to appear in the group’s videos to call for further violence “while our buildings still burned”.
The Kuwaiti imam is married to the late al-Qaeda leader’s eldest daughter, Fatima. He is the highest-ranking al-Qaeda official to stand trial in the US since the 9/11 attacks.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was turned over to US officials in Jordan in 2013 after being deported from Turkey.
On Wednesday, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith’s lawyer mocked the prosecution’s opening statement.
“You’ve just been to the movies ladies and gentlemen,” Stanley Cohen said.
“At the end of the day, there’s really no evidence. There is the substitution for evidence with fright and alarm.”
He told them some of what Sulaiman Abu Ghaith had said was “dumb. It’s stupid”.
The Obama administration’s decision to try Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in civilian court had been criticized by Republicans.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was described as a spokesman for Osama Bin Laden, has been arrested and will be tried in New York City, the US has confirmed.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was captured within the last week in Jordan, Congressman Peter King said on Thursday.
He is Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law and played a role in plotting the attacks of 9/11, US officials said.
Osama Bin Laden was killed in a May 2011 raid on his hideout in Pakistan by a team of US commandos.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is scheduled to appear in a federal court on Friday on charges of conspiracy to kill United States nationals.
“Sulaiman Abu Ghaith held a key position in al-Qaeda, comparable to the consigliere in a mob family or propaganda minister in a totalitarian regime,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos in a statement.
“He used his position to threaten the United States and incite its enemies.”
A teacher and mosque preacher in Kuwait, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship after 9/11.
Justice department officials say Sulaiman Abu Ghaith served alongside Osama Bin Laden from May 2001 to 2002, speaking on behalf of al-Qaeda and warning that attacks similar to 9/11 would continue.
Specifically, on September 12, 2001, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith appeared with Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to warn the US that a “great army is gathering against you” and called upon “the nation of Islam” to do battle against “the Jews, the Christians and the Americans,” according to court records.
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who was described as a spokesman for Osama Bin Laden, has been arrested and will be tried in New York City
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was reportedly smuggled to Iran sometime in 2002.
A Jordanian security official told the Associated Press that Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was handed over last week to US officials under both countries’ extradition treaties.
Peter King called the arrest a “very significant victory” in the fight against al-Qaeda.
“One by one, we are getting the top echelons of al-Qaeda,” the Republican congressman said.
“I give the administration credit for this. It’s steady and it’s unrelenting and it’s very successful.”
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith’s trial will mark one of the first prosecutions of senior al-Qaeda leaders on US soil.
Since 9/11, 67 foreign terror suspects have been convicted in US federal courts, according to data obtained by the group Human Rights First.
Some US lawmakers disagreed with the decision to try Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in New York.
“When we find somebody like this, this close to Bin Laden and the senior al-Qaeda leadership, the last thing in the world we want to do, in my opinion, is put them in a civilian court,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Thursday.
“This man should be in Guantanamo Bay,” he said.
A senior administration official said that Barack Obama’s national security team “unanimously agreed” that prosecution of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in federal court was in the US’ national security interests.
“The administration is seeking to close Guantanamo, not add to its population,” the official said.
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