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Abu Ghaith, Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law, Is Convicted in Terror Trial Jurors Convict Bin Laden Aide In Terror Case
(about 5 hours later)
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the most senior adviser to Osama bin Laden to be tried in a civilian United States court since the Sept. 11 attacks, was convicted on Wednesday of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists. More than a dozen years after the Sept. 11 attacks, a man who came to speak for Osama bin Laden in a series of impassioned videotaped messages that praised the attacks and promised more, was convicted by a federal jury on Wednesday of conspiring to kill Americans and of other terrorism charges.
Mr. Abu Ghaith, a 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born cleric known for his fiery oratory, had recorded impassioned speeches for Bin Laden after Sept. 11, in which he praised the attacks and promised that future attacks would be carried out. The defendant, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was the most senior Bin Laden confederate to be tried in a civilian court in the United States since Sept. 11, and his swift conviction on all counts would seem to serve as a rejoinder to critics of the Obama administration’s efforts to try suspected terrorists in civilian court, rather than before a military tribunal.
His conviction on all three counts — and the lightning speed from his arrest to verdict — would seem to serve as a rejoinder to critics of the Obama administration’s efforts to try suspected terrorists in civilian court, rather than before a military tribunal. “It was appropriate that this defendant, who publicly rejoiced over the attacks on the World Trade Center, faced trial in the shadow of where those buildings once stood,” the United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., said in a statement.
“It was appropriate that this defendant, who publicly rejoiced over the attacks on the World Trade Center, faced trial in the shadow of where those buildings once stood,” the United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., said in a statement. “This outcome vindicates the government’s approach to securing convictions against not only this particular defendant, but also other senior leaders of Al Qaeda.” Citing the success of the civilian courts in “hundreds of other cases involving terrorism defendants,” he added, “it would be a good thing for the country if this case has the result of putting that political debate to rest.”
The jury returned its verdict on its second day of deliberations in the trial, which had entered its third week in United States District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Abu Ghaith was convicted of conspiracy to kill Americans, for which he could face life in prison; and providing material support to terrorists, as well as conspiring to do so, counts that each carry maximum terms of 15 years. The verdict, returned after six hours of deliberations, comes a little more than a year after Mr. Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Bin Laden, was turned over to United States authorities in Jordan and flown to New York to face charges. The trial lasted three weeks.
Mr. Abu Ghaith was asked to rise as the judge’s deputy clerk, Andrew Mohan, read the verdict aloud, and the defendant appeared impassive as the word “guilty” was repeated three times. The decision to prosecute Mr. Abu Ghaith in federal court reignited the debate over whether international terrorists should be placed in military custody and sent to the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
His lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen, said later that his client was stoic and “at ease.” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who sharply criticized that decision, said that while he was pleased with the verdict, he still believed Mr. Abu Ghaith should have been held by the military “as an enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes.”
“He has confidence that this is not the end but the beginning,” Mr. Cohen said. The lawyer added that there were “a number of compelling issues” for appeal. Nonetheless, the successful prosecution of Mr. Abu Ghaith could further smooth the way for the Justice Department to pursue the cases of other suspected terrorists in federal court if they are captured; for example, Ayman al-Zawahri, the current leader of Al Qaeda, remains under indictment in Manhattan.
Mr. Abu Ghaith, who is married to Bin Laden’s daughter Fatima, was captured last year and brought to the United States on terrorism charges. His lawyers sought to portray their client as having had a minimal role in Al Qaeda, with no involvement or advance knowledge of any terrorist plot, planned or executed. Mr. Abu Ghaith, a 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born cleric known for his fiery oratory, was so trusted by Bin Laden that on the night of Sept. 11, the Qaeda leader invited him to his remote Afghan cave.
The defendant unexpectedly took the witness stand last week, offering a vivid account of being summoned by Bin Laden on the night of the attacks to meet with him in his cave in the Afghan mountains. “He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?’ ” Mr. Abu Ghaith testified at the trial. “He said, ‘We are the ones who did it.’ ”
“He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?' ” Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled the Qaeda leader telling him. The next day, at Bin Laden’s request, Mr. Abu Ghaith issued the first of a series of videotaped statements that helped Bin Laden spread his global message of terror, energize Qaeda fighters and recruit new ones, prosecutors told the jury.
Mr. Abu Ghaith said Bin Laden claimed credit for the attacks and told him the next day that he wanted Mr. Abu Ghaith to help him “deliver a message to the world.” Mr. Abu Ghaith has not been accused of having a role in the plot to attack the World Trade Center or of knowing about it. But when asked by a prosecutor if he “knew something big was coming from Al Qaeda,” he responded, “Yes.”
Mr. Cohen, in a closing argument on Monday, said his client had not always been speaking on behalf of Al Qaeda, and was rather fulfilling his responsibility as an imam. He was convicted on three counts: conspiracy to kill Americans, for which he could face life in prison; and providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to do so, counts which each carry maximum terms of 15 years. The judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, said the defendant would be sentenced on Sept. 8.
“You saw videos from a theologian,” Mr. Cohen said. “These words and these concepts may be offensive to you. They may disgust you. But you are going to have to decide the context.” Mr. Abu Ghaith, who used an Arabic interpreter in Federal District Court in Manhattan, appeared impassive as the judge’s deputy clerk, Andrew Mohan, read the verdict aloud, repeating “guilty” three times.
But the prosecution repeatedly reminded the jury, often through photographs and videos, of how close Mr. Abu Ghaith had been to Bin Laden, who was then the most wanted man on the planet. Mr. Abu Ghaith’s lead lawyer, Stanley L. Cohen, said later that his client was stoic and “at ease.”
The prosecution, for example, showed the jury a video screen shot of Mr. Abu Ghaith, made on Sept. 12, 2001, as he sat beside Bin Laden and two other Qaeda leaders, including Ayman Al-Zawahri, the Egyptian-born current leader of Al Qaeda. “He has confidence that this is not the end but the beginning,” Mr. Cohen said, adding that there were “a number of compelling issues” for appeal.
“Sulaiman Abu Ghaith literally sat at Osama bin Laden’s right hand,” a prosecutor, John P. Cronan, said in his closing argument. Crucial among them, Mr. Cohen said, was the judge’s refusal to allow the defense to introduce testimony from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks who is detained at Guantánamo Bay. Mr. Cohen had argued that Mr. Mohammed, with his unsurpassed knowledge of Qaeda operations, could help exculpate his client.
He cited one video, made on Oct. 9, 2001, in which Mr. Abu Ghaith warned that “the storm of airplanes will not abate,” and that there were thousands of Muslim youths who were yearning for death, “just as the Americans yearn to live.” Mr. Cohen also said the prosecution had “gone out of its way to exploit the anguish and pain of 9/11 to fill an enormous evidentiary vacuum,” making it “literally impossible for a jury of New Yorkers to look objectively” at the case.
That message, Mr. Cronan said, was meant to terrorize Americans, but also “to drive more suicide terrorists to Al Qaeda.” The prosecution team of John P. Cronan, Michael Ferrara and Nicholas J. Lewin told the jury there was overwhelming evidence that Mr. Abu Ghaith had participated in a conspiracy to kill Americans and had provided support to terrorists.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement: “Like the others who have faced terrorism charges in Manhattan’s federal courthouse before him, Abu Ghaith received a fair trial, after which a unanimous jury rendered its verdict, justly holding him accountable for his crimes. They cited the videos he had made for Bin Laden, in which he praised Sept. 11 and warned repeatedly that the “storm of airplanes” would not abate, a clear reference, they said, to future attacks.
In one video, Mr. Abu Ghaith warned Muslims in the United States and Britain “not to board aircraft” and “not to live in high rises.”
In another, he attributed the Sept. 11 attacks to the United States’ policies toward Muslims. “The American people must know that they bear full responsibility,” he declared.
The prosecution roundly rejected Mr. Cohen’s argument that Mr. Abu Ghaith had not always been speaking for Al Qaeda on the videos, and his suggestion that his client was an Islamic theologian, speaking for Muslims more broadly.
“This man twisted and manipulated that religion beyond all recognition,” Mr. Ferrara said in the government’s rebuttal, “and he did so in the service of motivating young men to kill Americans.”
The prosecutors also cited Mr. Abu Ghaith’s interrogation by an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a deputy United States marshal as he was flown to New York in early 2013, and his admissions in court after he unexpectedly testified.
It was in that testimony that he described being summoned by Bin Laden on the night of Sept. 11 for his opinion on how the United States would respond.
They met again the next day, Mr. Abu Ghaith testified, and he agreed to Bin Laden’s request that he help spread the Qaeda leader’s message to the world.
That day, Mr. Abu Ghaith appeared in a widely disseminated video, which was shown to the jury, with Bin Laden; Mr. al-Zawahri, his then deputy; and a military commander.
“In the days and months after Sept. 11, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith literally sat at Osama bin Laden’s right hand,” Mr. Cronan told the jury.
Before being brought to the United States, Mr. Abu Ghaith said, he was imprisoned for about a decade in Iran, where, around 2008, he married Bin Laden’s daughter, Fatima — a fact that was not disclosed to the anonymous jury of nine women and three men.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, “Like the others who have faced terrorism charges in Manhattan’s federal courthouse before him, Abu Ghaith received a fair trial, after which a unanimous jury rendered its verdict, justly holding him accountable for his crimes.”
“We hope this verdict brings some small measure of comfort to the families of the victims of Al Qaeda’s murderous designs,” Mr. Bharara added.“We hope this verdict brings some small measure of comfort to the families of the victims of Al Qaeda’s murderous designs,” Mr. Bharara added.