Bin Laden's Son-in-Law Convicted on Terror Charges by a New York Jury

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama Bin Laden, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and of plotting to kill Americans.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama Bin Laden, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and of plotting to kill Americans. The verdict from the New York trial of Abu Ghaith means that the alleged al Qaeda spokesperson is now eligible for life imprisonment. It took two days of deliberations for the jury to decide on a verdict.

Here's more from the New York Times on the unusual trial, which featured testimony from Abu Ghaith himself:

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.”

Abu Ghaith was captured about a year ago in Turkey, and brought to New York to face terrorism charges. It's the highest-profile civilian trial of an Osama Bin Laden associate since 9/11. Republican Congressman Lindsey Graham and Mike Rogers wanted to instead charge Abu Ghaith as an enemy combatant and bring him to Guantanamo Bay. But the actual charges he faced — the most hefty of which was "conspiracy to kill Americans" — didn't give a clear-cut justification for the full enemy combatant treatment.