TerrorismFormer al-Qaeda spokesman – OBL’s son-in-law -- sentenced to life in prison
A Manhattan federal court on Tuesday sentenced former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghayth to life in prison, following a conviction on 26 March for conspiracy to kill Americans and providing material support to known terrorists. Abu Ghayth, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was flown to the United States a year ago from Jordan after his arrest by Jordanian officials.
Sulaiman Abu Gaith (l.) with OBL and al-Zawahiri // Source: wikipedia.org
A Manhattan federal court on Tuesday sentenced former al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghayth to life in prison, following a conviction on 26 March for conspiracy to kill Americans and providing material support to known terrorists. Abu Ghayth, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was flown to the United States a year ago from Jordan after his arrest by Jordanian officials. “Justice has been served,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “This outcome ensures that Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, a senior member of al-Qaeda and an associate of Osama bin Laden, will never again set foot outside a prison cell.”
Abu Ghayth was tasked with propagating al-Qaeda’s terrorist message and recruiting young men to join the organization. The Justice Department showed a video of Abu Ghayth appearing alongside bin Laden and current al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri the day after the 9/11 attacks, giving a speech in which he warned the U.S. government that “a great army is gathering against you.”
“He was more than just Osama bin Laden’s propaganda minister. Within hours after the devastating 9/11 attacks, Abu Ghayth was using his position in al-Qaeda’s homicidal hierarchy to persuade others to pledge themselves to al Qaeda in the cause of murdering more Americans,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, said of Abu Ghayth.
On Tuesday, Abu Ghayth told the court that his role was strictly a religious one, aimed at calling all Muslims to rebel against their oppressors. He added that bin Laden asked him to be al-Qaeda’s spokesman on the night of the 9/11 attacks. Speaking in Arabic through a translator, Abu Ghayth also told the court, “today when you are shackling my hands, and intend to bury me alive, you are unleashing the hands of thousands of Muslims and they will join the rally of free men.”
Defense One reports that Abu Ghayth’s defense team sought a 15-year prison sentence, claiming he was being convicted not for actions but for his words. Instead, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told Abu Ghayth, “you sir, in my assessment, are committed to doing everything you can to assist in carrying out al-Qaeda’s agenda of killing Americans — guilty or innocent, combatant or noncombatant, adult or babies, without regard to the carnage that’s caused.” Adding, “you continue to threaten. What you have done warrants the maximum sentence.”
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-California) praised the ruling and said the case showed that “those who seek to harm Americans cannot hide and will be held to account.”
“This sentencing reminds the world that the United States will continue to capture and punish our enemies,” she said.
