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3 Laden followers get lifer in US embassy bombings
Three Osama Bin Laden followers convicted in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa were sentenced to life without parole on Thursday in this city still reeling from last month`s terrorist attacks.
Three Osama Bin Laden followers convicted in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa were sentenced to life without parole on Thursday in this city still reeling from last month's terrorist attacks.
A fourth defendant also faced sentencing on Thursday but planned to make a half-hour statement first at the fortified federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.
Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 28, of Tanzania, was the first to be sentenced in US District Court. He and Mohamed Rashed Al-'Owhali, 24, of Saudi Arabia, were sentenced to life without parole for direct involvement in the bombings.
Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, of Jordan, received the same sentence for conspiracy.
Judge Leonard B. Sand ordered each of the men to pay dlrs 33 million in restitution: dlrs 7 million to the victims' families, and $ 26 million to the US government.
At a pre-sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Sand said the defendants were indigent. But he also suggested that frozen assets might be used for victims, thanks to recent attempts by President George W. Bush's administration to choke off the funding of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
Odeh, who had argued at his trial that the United States had provoked the terrorist attacks, was convicted of a lesser role and had been eligible for a lesser sentence.
At sentencing, defense lawyer Ed Wilford said Odeh "was a soldier in the military wing of al-Qaeda." He said the attack, in Odeh's view, was an attack against the US for its support of Israel.
Mohamed, convicted of helping build the bomb that struck the embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, declined to address the court.
He and Al-'Owhali had faced a possible death penalty in the case, but the jury could not agree on that sentence. Through his attorney, Mohamed said he "wishes to express gratitude to a jury that spared his life."
"The jury has found you guilty of crimes that mandate a life sentence, and I will of course impose a life sentence," the judge told him.
Al-'Owhali, who rode the bomb vehicle up to the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and tossed stun grenades at guards before fleeing, also declined to address the court.
The near-simultaneous August 7, 1998, bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 231 people - 12 Americans and 219 Africans. The bombings were quickly blamed on Bin Laden, who was indicted in the case, and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization, headquartered in Afghanistan.
The four defendants' six-month trial attracted little interest before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed more than 5,000 people.
On Thursday, security was tightened around the courthouse just blocks from the trade center rubble. The courthouse is surrounded by steel barricades to prevent possible attacks.
The sentencing came after an appeal by the spouses of two people killed in the embassy bombings for life sentences.
Bureau Report
A fourth defendant also faced sentencing on Thursday but planned to make a half-hour statement first at the fortified federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.
Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 28, of Tanzania, was the first to be sentenced in US District Court. He and Mohamed Rashed Al-'Owhali, 24, of Saudi Arabia, were sentenced to life without parole for direct involvement in the bombings.
Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, of Jordan, received the same sentence for conspiracy.
Judge Leonard B. Sand ordered each of the men to pay dlrs 33 million in restitution: dlrs 7 million to the victims' families, and $ 26 million to the US government.
At a pre-sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Sand said the defendants were indigent. But he also suggested that frozen assets might be used for victims, thanks to recent attempts by President George W. Bush's administration to choke off the funding of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda and other terror groups.
Odeh, who had argued at his trial that the United States had provoked the terrorist attacks, was convicted of a lesser role and had been eligible for a lesser sentence.
At sentencing, defense lawyer Ed Wilford said Odeh "was a soldier in the military wing of al-Qaeda." He said the attack, in Odeh's view, was an attack against the US for its support of Israel.
Mohamed, convicted of helping build the bomb that struck the embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, declined to address the court.
"The jury has found you guilty of crimes that mandate a life sentence, and I will of course impose a life sentence," the judge told him.
Al-'Owhali, who rode the bomb vehicle up to the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and tossed stun grenades at guards before fleeing, also declined to address the court.
The near-simultaneous August 7, 1998, bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 231 people - 12 Americans and 219 Africans. The bombings were quickly blamed on Bin Laden, who was indicted in the case, and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization, headquartered in Afghanistan.
The four defendants' six-month trial attracted little interest before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed more than 5,000 people.
On Thursday, security was tightened around the courthouse just blocks from the trade center rubble. The courthouse is surrounded by steel barricades to prevent possible attacks.
The sentencing came after an appeal by the spouses of two people killed in the embassy bombings for life sentences.
Bureau Report