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US Convicts Bin Laden Aide Over Africa Attacks

US Convicts Bin Laden Aide Over Africa Attacks

A Saudi man considered one of Osama bin Laden's "original and most trusted lieutenants" has been convicted in connection with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which left over 200 people dead.

Khalid al Fawwaz, 52, was found guilty in a federal court in New York of all four conspiracy counts he faced.

He faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

"We hope this verdict gives some comfort to al Qaeda's victims around the world," US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

Al Fawwaz was not charged with planning the embassy attacks themselves.

He was instead found to have disseminated bin Laden's 1998 fatwah, which commanded followers to kill Americans, while he was serving as the al Qaeda leader's media advisor in London.

"That directive was followed by the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which resulted in the murder of 224 innocent people, and the wounding of thousands more," Mr Bharara said.

"... For nearly a decade, Khaled al Fawwaz played a critical role for al Qaeda in its murderous conspiracy against America."

In the statement, he described how al Fawwaz had "dedicated himself" to al Qaeda in the early 1990s, becoming one of bin Laden's "original and most trusted lieutenants".

He served as the first leader of an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan before becoming the leader of the organisation's terrorist cell in Kenya, which later conducted surveillance ahead of the embassy bombing there.

After taking on the position of media advisor in London, he was said to have acted as "bin Laden's bridge to the West in the pre-internet era".

He was arrested in London in 1998 and extradited to the US in 2012 after a lengthy legal battle.

His defence attorneys argued he was a peaceful dissident who shared with bin Laden a desire to bring about reform in their native Saudi Arabia, but distanced himself from him after he began calling for acts of violence against the US.

The government's case was based on "suspicion, association, theory and inference," defence attorney Bobbi Sternheim told jurors.

The verdict marks the 10th conviction in connection with the bombings.

Al Fawwaz was originally on trial alongside two co-defendants.

Abu Anas al Liby, of Libya, died in US custody last month after long-standing health problems, while Egyptian Adel Abdul Bary pleaded guilty as part of a deal to limit his prison sentence to 25 years last September.