He's the highest ranking Al-Qaeda figure to be tried on U.S. soil since the 9/11 attacks.
A Manhattan jury has found Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law guilty of all the charges against him — including conspiring to kill Americans. (Via NTD-TV)
Suleiman Abu Ghaith served as al-Qaeda’s spokesperson and was married to Bin Laden's daughter. He spent most of the last decade under house arrest in Iran. Last year, the CIA captured him in Jordan. (Via Euronews)
“This is a man who’s in the inner circle of bin Laden's operations, and now we have him alive — and he’s talking.” (Via ABC)
According to The New York Times, the prosecution described Abu Ghaith as having “literally sat at Osama bin Laden’s right hand.”
The prosecution argued Abu Ghaith not only wanted to terrorize Americans but recruit more suicide terrorists. As for the defense, it said Abu Ghaith was speaking on behalf of Muslims not Al-Qaeda.
But videos like these — released in the weeks following September 11 — paint a different picture. In them, often with bin Laden by his side, Abu Ghaith praised the 9/11 hijackers and threatened more attacks — once warning, "The airplanes will not stop." (Via Al Jazeera, Jewish News One)
Abu Ghaith's attorney compared the prosecution's case to something out of a movie. The Los Angeles Times quotes him saying, "It was intended to sweep you away ... in anguish and pain."
The Manhattan trial was held mere blocks from where the World Trade Center towers once stood. It took the jury just five hours to reach a verdict. (Via WNBC)
Abu Ghaith could face life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for September 8.
