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Adel Abdul Bary Admits Embassy Bombings Role

Adel Abdul Bary Admits Embassy Bombings Role

An Egyptian man has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

Adel Abdul Bary said in a federal court in Manhattan that he acted as an al Qaeda spokesman after the attacks.

The 54-year-old admitted three lesser counts, including threatening to kill, injure or destroy property by means of an explosive and conspiring to murder US citizens abroad.

But the judge did not immediately accept the plea deal, saying he wished to hear further argument before dropping more serious charges.

Bary was extradited from Britain to the US in 2012, along with radical cleric Abu Hamza, who was found guilty in the US of terrorism charges earlier this year .

Bary told the judge on Friday he had contacted the media to claim responsibility for the embassy blasts.

He also said he had put journalists in touch with al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.

"I arranged to transmit messages from media personnel to my co-conspirators, al Zawahiri and bin Laden," he said, reading from a statement.

Bary shook his head and wept at times during the hearing, telling the judge he was being treated for depression.

Under the plea agreement, Bary would face a maximum 25 years in prison.

The 14 years he has already spent in jail in the UK could be discounted from his sentence.