Osama bin Laden's son-in-law was recruited in Afghanistan to be al-Qaida's spokesman after the September 11, 2001, attacks and spread a message of hate against America that would incite more would-be Muslim militants to join its cause, a prosecutor said today in closing arguments at the son-in-law's terrorism trial.
A defense lawyer for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith countered that there's a lack of evidence to convict his client of conspiring to kill Americans after the attacks. Attorney Stanley Cohen said prosecutors tried to anger jurors to seek retaliation by showing them video of the burning World Trade Center towers.
Abu Ghaith, who was brought to New York last year after his capture in Turkey, is the highest-ranking al-Qaida figure to face trial on US soil since 9/11.
He has pleaded not guilty charges he conspired to kill Americans and provided material support to al-Qaida. The defense has never disputed that Abu Ghaith, 48, associated with bin Laden after 9/11, but it contends he was recruited as a religious teacher and orator, and had no role in plotting more attacks.
If convicted, he could face life in prison.
The prosecutor told jurors the evidence against the defendant, including propaganda audio and videotapes of him speaking on behalf of al-Qaida, is overwhelming.
Bin Laden used Abu Ghaith "to send a message - a message that al-Qaida's attacks on September 11 were justified that the United States got what it deserved," Assistant US Attorney John Cronan said in federal court in Manhattan.
Abu Ghaith, an imam from Kuwait, delivered fiery videotaped sermons in Arabic that were intended to drive "more men to al-Qaida and its mission. Al-Qaida needed these young men to be its next generation of terrorists."
Cronan added: "This man's purpose was to justify mass murder to al-Qaida recruits and to the entire world.
