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Bin Laden Son-in-law Gets Life Prison Term


FILE - In this courtroom sketch, from left, Suliman Abu Ghaith stands next to his attorney, Stanley Cohen, as courtroom deputy Andrew Mohan, reads the verdict and Judge Lewis Kaplan, right, listens, March 26, 2014, at federal court in New York.
FILE - In this courtroom sketch, from left, Suliman Abu Ghaith stands next to his attorney, Stanley Cohen, as courtroom deputy Andrew Mohan, reads the verdict and Judge Lewis Kaplan, right, listens, March 26, 2014, at federal court in New York.

A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden has been sentenced by a U.S. court to life in prison for his role as al-Qaida's spokesman after the 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in New York, telling the 48-year-old Kuwaiti he saw "no remorse" from him. The judge said he believes Abu Ghaith still wants to do everything he can to carry out al-Qaida's agenda of killing Americans.

Before sentencing, Abu Ghaith, speaking in Arabic, said he would not "seek mercy from anyone but God." He said, by sentencing him, the judge was "at the same time unleashing the hands of hundreds of Muslim youths."

Abu Ghaith was convicted in March of conspiring to kill Americans and providing support for terrorists.

Prosecutors said he answered bin Laden's request to speak on inflammatory videos aimed at recruiting new followers to carry out more suicide missions like those in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Jurors at the trial saw parts of a video from September 12 that year showing Abu Ghaith seated next to bin Laden and two other top al-Qaida leaders as they sought to justify the attacks the day before.

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