http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/03/05/65870.htm
COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
By ADAM KLASFELD
March 5, 2014
SNIPPET: “MANHATTAN (CN) - Opening arguments for biggest terrorism trial to hit federal courts in recent memory began with a mention of the worst attacks on U.S. soil and ended with a reference to the infamous massacre that preceded the nation’s founding.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Lewis set the stage for his remarks with the words, “It was the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001,” when nearly 3,000 people died in attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
On “the most important night in al-Qaida’s savage history,” Osama bin Laden needed a man to “rally his troops,” Lewin said, as he moved behind the defense table.
“Osama bin Laden turned to this man, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the defendant,” Lewin added, pointing at the accused man’s back.
Attorneys for neither party mentioned that Abu Ghaith was bin Laden’s son-in-law.
The prosecutor said that Abu Ghaith accepted bin Laden’s offer and appeared the next morning with him and bin Laden’s then-deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. Speaking on behalf of al-Qaida, Abu Ghaith allegedly warned the United States and its allies that a “great army is gathering against you.””
http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/03/10/66008.htm
COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Monday, March 10, 2014Last Update: 4:52 PM PT
SNIPPET: “ MANHATTAN (CN) - A British man testifying on Monday at the trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law said he planned to blow up a plane on a domestic flight on a suicide mission, along with “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid, after the Sept. 11 attacks, but bailed on the plan at the last minute.
“I was supposed to fly to the United States of America” in December 2001, Saajid Badat testified from London via live video during the trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is accused of conspiring to kill Americans and supporting a terrorist organization.
Badat outlined plans that he said bin Laden and “five to 10” others hatched to “destroy an airplane.” “We were supposed to bring down flights,” he said.
He said he “spoke to Osama bin Laden” in September or early October 2001, and that bin Laden and about “five to 10 people” were “talking about this particular mission,” and that he and Reid were to be given an “explosive device.””
SNIPPET: “He testified that depending on how the plot progressed with al Qaida higher-ups, he and Reid were to board separate domestic flights with explosives hidden in their shoes and detonate them.
The second option was to detonate planes on transatlantic flights.
“The third was to look for flights across Europe,” he said.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-binladensoninlaw-trial-idUSBREA2C2C120140313
“Bin Laden relative admitted al Qaeda link, FBI agent says”
BY BERNARD VAUGHAN
NEW YORK Thu Mar 13, 2014 6:46pm EDT
SNIPPET: “(Reuters) - Suleiman Abu Ghaith admitted that months before al Qaeda’s 2001 hijacked jet attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he promised Osama bin Laden he would be a spokesman for the group, an FBI agent testified on Thursday in a U.S. court.”
SNIPPET: “The case is U.S. v. Abu Ghayth, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 98-cr-01023.”
(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by David Gregorio)