Bin Laden followers get life for US embassy bombings

19 Oct, 2001 01:56 AM3 mins to read

10.00 am

NEW YORK - Four followers of America's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, have been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.

The four men were convicted on May 29 by a federal jury in the first US convictions linked to Saudi-born militant bin Laden, who is also the government's prime suspect in the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on America.

"This is a time not for eloquence, but for justice," US District Court Judge Leonard Sand said during the sentencing hearing in the courtroom just 10 blocks from the scene of last month's destruction of the World Trade Center. The building was surrounded by armed guards in the tightest security seen at the Manhattan federal courthouse.

Bin Laden, wanted "dead or alive" by the United States for the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that killed nearly 5,400 people, was indicted for masterminding the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Aug. 7, 1998, bombings killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and wounded thousands.

Relatives of victims and some of those injured listened intently to the proceedings or were allowed to make statements.

In an emotional moment in court, Frank Presley, who was seriously injured in the Nairobi bombing, said, "These people should be put away forever ... these people would kill for no reason ... let them rot in jail for the rest of their lives."

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about 12 days in May before convicting Saudi Arabian Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, 24; Tanzanian Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 28; Lebanese-born US citizen Wadih El-Hage, 41, and Jordan-born Palestinian Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36.

According to the indictment, El-Hage was a former personal secretary to bin Laden. It said al-'Owhali, beginning in 1996, received training at camps in Afghanistan affiliated with bin Laden's al Qaeda (The Base) group. Mohamed and Odeh both received explosives training at a camp in Afghanistan, the indictment said.

All four defendants were convicted of every charge in the 302-count indictment that describes a broad conspiracy aimed at murdering Americans and attacking US embassies and military facilities.

The sentences were handed down with New York and the rest of the United States still on edge after the attacks and a series of exposures to anthrax in the mail, raising fears of possible bioterrorism.

The two convicted of having a direct role in the bombings were al-'Owhali, who confessed to riding in the truck used in the Nairobi bombing and Mohamed, convicted of taking part in the Dar es Salaam attack.

Al-'Owhali and Mohamed could have been sentenced to death, but because the jury was deadlocked on execution, the judge had no choice under US law but to sentence them to life imprisonment without parole.

"The law recognises that terrorism that causes the death of innocent persons regardless of whether it is based on sincerely held but terribly misguided views ... is one of the most serious crimes, threats to the society of any civilised nation," Judge Sand said in sentencing Odeh.

The Manhattan federal courthouses, which law enforcement sources said could be targets of bin Laden's al Qaeda network, have been on high alert since the hijacking attacks.

As part of unprecedented security measures, heavily armed US Marshals encircled the two buildings that house trial and appeals courts. Spectators hoping to watch the sentencing began lining up early on Thursday and those allowed into the courtroom were prohibited from bringing in briefcases, purses or any bag.

- REUTERS

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