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Four guilty in embassy bombings trial
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A federal jury Tuesday found four men guilty of all charges against them stemming from the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The jury deliberated for 12 days before handing down guilty verdicts against Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh and Wadih el Hage. "Guilty verdicts cannot bring back lost loved ones or erase the pain or void their loss," U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said. "But we hope that they provide at least a degree of comfort as a significant step toward acheving some sense of justice and vindication." The jury found that al-'Owhali, a 24-year-old Saudi, played a direct role in the August 7, 1998, bombing in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition to conspiracy, he was convicted of the murders of the 213 people who were killed in the bombing. Mohamed, 27, was found guilty of the murders of the 11 people killed in the nearly simultaneous bombing of the embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in addition to conspiracy.
Al-'Owhali and Mohamed face the death penalty for their roles in the attacks. The sentencing process is scheduled to start Wednesday. The jury also convicted Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, a Jordanian, of assisting the planning of the Kenya bombing and aiding and abetting the murders of the people killed. He faces a maximum of life in prison. The fourth defendant, Wadih el Hage, 40, a Lebanese-born American, was found guilty of conspiracy and perjury for lying to a federal grand jury to protect the conspiracy. He faces a maximum of life in prison. Those convicted Tuesday are just four of the 22 people named in the original indictment. Some -- like Islamic militant leader Osama bin Laden who U.S. authorites say bears ultimate responsibility for the bombings -- are fugitives and others are in custody abroad. "We remain permanently and unrelentingly committed to tracking down, apprehending and bringing to justice every single participant in these crimes -- however long it takes and wherever around the globe it is necessary to find the evidence, and those responsible, to bring them to justice," White said. Assistant FBI Director Barry Mawn said the bombing probe was the bureau's largest overseas investigation in its history. Agents from 38 of the bureau's 56 field offices were sent to East Africa to collect evidence and conduct interviews in the case, he said. "This jury returned a verdict that puts on notice any individual or group of individuals who seek to attack United States persons or interests abroad that the rule of law is more powerful than any terrorist bomb," Mawn said. An attorney for Odeh, Anthony Ricco, said the government's case against his client was very thin and there was a great deal of reasonable doubt.
"This case had a powerful emotional component and I was concerned that we would not be able to overcome that," Ricco said. Ricco said the defense plans to appeal Odeh's conviction. "We have an uphill battle with the appeal, like a lawyer does in any case," Ricco said, "and we'll be looking at this very closely and working very hard towards trying to convince the court of appeals of something we weren't able to convince a jury of, which of course you know is a very difficult thing to do." A number of the victims' families were in court for the verdict and expressed relief about the jury's decision. "It doesn't erase the pain, the jury did an excellent job, and I just hope that this will give a message to the terrorists, that we won't take this lightly as Americans, that there will be justice for the families when they attack us," said Clara Aligang, the mother of a bombing victim. U.S. State Department spokesman Phil Reeker also welcomed the news. "As you'll recall, hundreds of Americans as well as Kenyans and Tanzanians died in these heinous attacks, and some 5,000 people were injured. So we also know that the families of the victims have suffered tremendously," Reeker said. "Many of these were colleagues of ours here in the Department of State, and we will not forget the sacrifice they and their loved ones made." During its deliberations, the jury asked to review about 40 items of evidence but did not ask to have any trial testimony read back. The trial transcript runs more than 6,000 pages. The verdicts came four-and-a-half months after jury selection began, double the pace the court originally predicted. The trial moved quickly due to numerous stipulations by which prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed not to contest certain evidence --usually documents -- and avoided calling witnesses to authenticate more mundane facts of the case. The government called more than 90 witnesses during nine weeks and showed the jury hundreds of exhibits -- bombing debris, photos of the houses where the bombs were made, defendants' clothing with explosive residue, telephone and travel records, passports, and letters. The most dramatic testimony came from witnesses who survived the bombings. The government offered a history of the Islamic militant organization founded by bin Laden, al Qaeda, meaning "the base," and explained his intent to kill Americans. The government relied heavily on two defectors from al Qaeda, now protected informants, as witnesses who described the group's ideology, structure, businesses and headquarters in Sudan and Afghanistan. Prosecutors read two of bin Laden's "fatwahs," or religious decrees, targeting U.S. soldiers and civilians. They played his CNN interview where he declared "jihad," or holy war, on the United States for stationing troops in Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina, and for supporting Israel and Egypt -- positions reiterated in claims of responsibility for the bombings faxed to media from bin Laden's London cell. Prosecutors also established defendants' ties to bin Laden. They said al-'Owhali, Mohamed and Odeh received weapons and explosives training in bin Laden's military camps in Afghanistan, and Odeh took a "bayat," or loyalty oath, to al Qaeda. El Hage worked for bin Laden companies in Sudan in the early 1990s before moving to Kenya. Perhaps most damning for the defendants were their own incriminating statements after their arrests. Defense attorneys sought to have the statements suppressed, arguing their clients were not properly advised of their rights, but in a pivotal pre-trial ruling, Judge Leonard Sand allowed the statements to be presented. Al-'Owhali and Mohamed essentially admitted to FBI agents their roles in bombings, which included riding in the passenger seats of the respective bomb trucks. Odeh named other conspirators and admitted being in their presence in the days before the Nairobi attack, but he denied carrying it out or knowing about it. None of the defendants took the stand on their own behalf. Only el Hage and Odeh called any witnesses, fewer than 10 combined, and the defense case lasted only two weeks. All the defendants are represented by criminal defense attorneys appointed by the court. The penalty phase of the trial is expected to last a month. The same jurors will decide whether al-'Owhali and K.K. Mohamed are sentenced to death. Odeh and el Hage could each be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison. Thirteen other men indicted in the overall terror conspiracy, including bin Laden and several alleged embassy bombers, are still at large. Five other defendants are in either U.S. or British custody. |
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