NEW YORK (AP) — Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law has been convicted in New York of conspiring to kill Americans by serving as al-Qaida’s spokesman after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The verdict was returned Wednesday for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (SOO’-lay-mahn AH’-boo gayth) in federal court in Manhattan. The Kuwaiti clergyman could face life in prison when he is sentenced on charges of conspiracy and aiding al-Qaida.
He was captured in Jordan last year and brought to New York for trial. He is the highest-ranking al-Qaida figure to face trial on U.S. soil since the attacks.
Videos showing Abu Ghaith threatening America with no end to the “storm of airplanes” were shown to jurors. Defense lawyers say he knew nothing about conspiracies. He testified bin Laden asked him the night of the attacks to be al-Qaida’s spokesman.