Abu Ghaith, A Bin Laden Adviser, Sentenced To Life In Prison Via- NY Times A Kuwaiti-born cleric who sat with Osama bin Laden in a remote Afghan cave hours after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and later became a fiery spokesman for the Qaeda leader, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday by a federal judge in Manhattan. The defendant, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, who became the most senior adviser to Bin Laden to be tried in a civilian court in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks, was convicted in March of three counts: conspiracy to kill Americans, and providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to do so. In imposing the sentence, the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court, rejected a defense request for leniency on grounds that Mr. Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Bin Laden’s, had been convicted essentially for offensive language. The trial had been widely watched, in part because the decision to prosecute Mr. Abu Ghaith in the civilian court system had been roundly criticized by some members of Congress, who argued that he should have been held by the military for intelligence purposes. In a visit to New York to meet with the prosecutors after the verdict, the United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. told reporters that the case had proved “beyond any doubt” that terror trials could “safely occur” in the city, and “further demonstrated the reality that bringing terrorists swiftly to justice is fully within the capabilities” of the civilian court system. The defense team, which had sought a sentence of 15 years, had argued in a sentencing memorandum that his client was facing “the harshest of penalties for talk — and only talk.” A defense lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen, likened Mr. Abu Ghaith to “an outrageous daytime ‘shock-radio’ host, or a World War II radio propagandist for a losing ideology.” But the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said there was “no fathomable reason to justify a sentence other than life.” “Abu Ghaith participated at the highest levels of Al Qaeda in the months preceding Sept. 11, 2001 — and for more than a year after,” the government wrote. “His purpose was to motivate Al Qaeda’s fighters and drive more men to Al Qaeda’s mission to kill Americans.” Perhaps the most riveting moment of Mr. Abu Ghaith’s three-week trial came when he unexpectedly took the witness stand and testified about how he was summoned to a meeting with Bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan, hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. “He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?’” Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled for the jury. He said Bin Laden told him, “We are the ones who did it.”
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:27:35 +0000
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