Videos hold the key to Laden’s son-in-law’s trial
26 March 2014 1:01 AM GMT
Another shows the son-in-law looking at bin Laden admiringly as the Al Qaeda leader boasts that he knew the attack would make both towers fall.
How a jury interprets those videos could determine the outcome of a Manhattan federal trial where the son-in-low, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, is charged with conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to Al Qaeda.
As a Kuwaiti imam recruited to be Al Qaeda’s chief spokesman in the months following 11 September, Abu Ghaith ‘allowed himself to be caught on tape committing his crimes... because he never thought they’d be played in this courtroom,’ Assistant US Attorney Michael Ferrara said Monday in a rebuttal at closing arguments.
‘You are looking at a guilty man,’ the prosecutor told jurors, referring to Abu Ghaith. ‘You can convict the defendant on those videos alone.’ The videos also demonstrated that Abu Ghaith was a more powerful speaker than bin Laden or other Al Qaeda leaders who spoke on tape, said another prosecutor, John Cronan, in his closing.
‘You heard them speak during this trial,’ he said. ‘They are dull. They were monotone. That man wasn’t. He had energy. He had passion. He was dynamic. He could fire people up.’ Abu Ghaith’s attorney, Stanley Cohen, countered in his closing that there was no evidence his client had a senior position with Al Qaeda. He accused prosecutors of seeking to inflame jurors by repeatedly showing them the martyr video and by endlessly referencing 9/11, even though Abu Ghaith isn’t charged in the attack.
The video ‘was designed, it was intended to sweep you away in anguish, in pain, and to ask for retaliation,’ Cohen said. The defense attorney later warned the jury that the videos were an ‘an invitation to speculate,’ and accused the government of ‘trying to steal your independence, to intimidate you and to frighten you into returning verdicts not based upon evidence, but fear.’
Jury deliberations were set to begin on Tuesday. Abu Ghaith, 48, who was brought to New York last year after his capture in Turkey, has pleaded not guilty charges he conspired to kill Americans and provided material support to Al Qaeda by spreading its message of hate and inciting would-be militants to join its fight against the West. The defense has never disputed that Abu Ghaith associated with bin Laden after 9/11, but it contends that he went to Afghanistan as a religious scholar concerned about oppression of all Muslims and never swore an oath of allegiance to bin Laden.
How a jury interprets those videos could determine the outcome of a Manhattan federal trial where the son-in-low, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, is charged with conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to Al Qaeda.
As a Kuwaiti imam recruited to be Al Qaeda’s chief spokesman in the months following 11 September, Abu Ghaith ‘allowed himself to be caught on tape committing his crimes... because he never thought they’d be played in this courtroom,’ Assistant US Attorney Michael Ferrara said Monday in a rebuttal at closing arguments.
‘You are looking at a guilty man,’ the prosecutor told jurors, referring to Abu Ghaith. ‘You can convict the defendant on those videos alone.’ The videos also demonstrated that Abu Ghaith was a more powerful speaker than bin Laden or other Al Qaeda leaders who spoke on tape, said another prosecutor, John Cronan, in his closing.
‘You heard them speak during this trial,’ he said. ‘They are dull. They were monotone. That man wasn’t. He had energy. He had passion. He was dynamic. He could fire people up.’ Abu Ghaith’s attorney, Stanley Cohen, countered in his closing that there was no evidence his client had a senior position with Al Qaeda. He accused prosecutors of seeking to inflame jurors by repeatedly showing them the martyr video and by endlessly referencing 9/11, even though Abu Ghaith isn’t charged in the attack.
The video ‘was designed, it was intended to sweep you away in anguish, in pain, and to ask for retaliation,’ Cohen said. The defense attorney later warned the jury that the videos were an ‘an invitation to speculate,’ and accused the government of ‘trying to steal your independence, to intimidate you and to frighten you into returning verdicts not based upon evidence, but fear.’
Jury deliberations were set to begin on Tuesday. Abu Ghaith, 48, who was brought to New York last year after his capture in Turkey, has pleaded not guilty charges he conspired to kill Americans and provided material support to Al Qaeda by spreading its message of hate and inciting would-be militants to join its fight against the West. The defense has never disputed that Abu Ghaith associated with bin Laden after 9/11, but it contends that he went to Afghanistan as a religious scholar concerned about oppression of all Muslims and never swore an oath of allegiance to bin Laden.
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