Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was arrested in a dramatic take-down by CIA officials in Jordan several days ago, and is now being held in a detention facility somewhere in the New York City area.
Abu Ghaith has been charged with participating in a conspiracy to kill Americans in relation to the 9/11 attacks, according to a newly-unsealed indictment.
Scroll down for video
'Very significant victory': Al-Qaeda spokesman and Osama Bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith has been captured in Jordan
Proximity: This map shows the distance between
the World Trade Center site and U.S. District Court, where Abu Ghaith
may stand trial
The court is located less than a mile from the World Trade Center towers, which were destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks.
He will be the closest bin Laden associate to face a trial in New York.
Others, including 'mastermind' Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are being tried by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Day in court: Abu Ghaith's trial will most
likely be in U.S. District Court, pictured, less than a mile from the
site of the 9/11 attacks
Records compiled by a United Nations sanctions committee show that Abu Ghaith was born in Kuwait in 1965, but that he left Kuwait for Pakistan in June 2001.
At one point, he married one of bin Laden's daughters. Her identity was not immediately known.
After the September 11 attacks, Abu Ghaith first surfaced as one of al-Qaeda's main spokesmen.
Later, U.S. officials believe he was part of a group of top figures in the group that included one of bin Laden's sons, Saad, who allegedly traveled to Iran, where the Iranian government claimed they were 'in custody.'
The Long War Journal, a counterterrorism blog published by the conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, reported in 2010 that Abu Ghaith had been released by Iranian authorities and supposedly had returned to Afghanistan.
Senior Republican Rep Peter King announced Ghaith's arrest on Thursday, hailing it as a 'very significant victory' in the ongoing fight against al-Qaeda.
King, the former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the CIA and FBI had caught Ghaith within the last week.
Ghaith had allegedly taken part in the September 11 plot against the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
'Definitely, one by one, we are getting the top echelons of al-Qaeda,' King said on Thursday.
Hunted down: Osama Bin Laden, left, was killed
in 2011 in Pakistan after years of searching. The terror leader is shown
at right, watching himself on TV in his secret compound
Wanted: Ghaith had been considered 'stateless'
since since he lost his Kuwaiti citizenship after videos emerged showing
him praising the September 11 attacks
The newspaper said that Ghaith was initially taken into custody more than a month ago at a luxury hotel in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Turkish officials decided he had not committed any crime in Turkey and released him the newspaper reported.
Terror: After the September 11 attacks, Abu Ghaith first surfaced as one of al-Qaeda's main spokesmen
As a result of that ruling, Abu Ghaith was seized in Jordan by CIA agents while en route to Kuwait.
Ghaith had been considered 'stateless' since since he lost his Kuwaiti citizenship after videos emerged showing him praising the September 11 attacks.
However, Turkish officials refused to confirm Ghaith's deportation or his capture in Jordan to The Associated Press.
In Amman, the Jordanian capital, a security official said he had no information on the CIA arrest.
U.S. intelligence officials in Washington did not immediately respond to request for information about Ghaith either.
'I trust he received a vigorous interrogation, and will face swift and certain justice,' Congressman King added.
DAILYMAIL
No comments:
Post a Comment