Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, a former al-Qaida spokesman, has been captured by the United States and brought to New York City to stand trial.
Justice Department officials say Sulaiman Abu Ghaith will be arraigned Friday on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.Republican Congressman Peter King on Thursday credited CIA and FBI agents with catching Abu Ghaith recently in Jordan.A Turkish newspaper reported that Abu Ghaith was seized at a luxury hotel in the capital, Ankara. Sources said he was then deported to Jordan, where U.S. intelligence agents took him into custody. Turkish officials refused to comment on the report.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the arrest shows U.S. resolve to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.But Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte say the Obama administration is wrong to bring Abu Ghaith to New York instead of sending him to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba for extended questioning.They say trying Abu Ghaith in the U.S. means he will be afforded the protections of the American legal system, which they say he does not deserve.
Abu Ghaith appeared in al-Qaida propaganda videos after the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. His father-in-law, Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 attacks, was killed nearly two years ago in a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan.King is a member of the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.In addition to U.S. intelligence agents, King praised U.S. President Barack Obama for the capture of Abu Ghaith. – VOA
