The Slatest

Osama Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law Found Guilty of Aiding Terror Plans

Stanley Cohen (L), and Geoffrey S. Stewart, the defense lawyers for Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, speak to members of the media after Abu Ghaith was convicted of charges of conspiring to kill Americans

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law was convicted Wednesday of conspiring to kill Americans in his role as an al-Qaida spokesperson. It took the jury six hours of deliberations spread out over two days to reach the verdict, which itself comes more than a dozen years after 9/11.

The man, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, is the highest-ranking member of the terror group to face trial on U.S. soil since the attacks. The proceedings offered a rare glimpse into the inner workings of al-Qaida and an unexpected behind-the-scenes snapshot from within the Afghan cave in which Bin Laden was hiding when the planes crashed into the twin towers, via the New York Times:

The defendant unexpectedly took the witness stand last week, offering a vivid account of being summoned by Bin Laden on the night of the attacks to meet with him in his cave in the Afghan mountains.

“He said, ‘Come in, sit down.’ He said, ‘Did you learn about what happened?’ ” Mr. Abu Ghaith recalled the Qaeda leader telling him. Mr. Abu Ghaith said Bin Laden claimed credit for the attacks and told him the next day that he wanted Mr. Abu Ghaith to help him “deliver a message to the world.”

Ghaith is set for sentencing on Sept. 8 and faces life in prison.