“I have not come here today to seek mercy and I would not seek mercy from anyone but God. Today, and at the same moment where you are shackling my hands and intend to bury me alive, you are at the same time unleashing the hands of hundreds of Muslim youths. And you are removing the dust of their minds. They will join the ranks of the free men soon and very soon the world will see the end of these theatre plays “
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, spokesperson of Al-Queda – 23rd September 2014 in a US court.
(From top to down: Photograph from a video, illustration of Ghaith in US custody, an image frame from a video statement by Al-Queda, illustration of trail)
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith is also son-in-law of Osama-Bin-Laden and a founder of Al Wafa al Igatha al Islamia, a charity that acts as a front for al Qaeda’s fund-raising. The statement was made on Tuesday, 23rd September 2014 through an interpreter before US district judge Lewis Kaplan. Ghaith is a former imam and he chose Stanley Cohen, an orthodox Jewish and a high profile criminal US lawyer to defend him in the US court of law. Minutes after he made the above statement, the judge Lewis Kaplan imposed the sentence of life in prison. Earlier, Ghaith was convicted on terrorism charges.
American and European news agencies preferred illustrations of Sulaiman Abu Gahith and avoided real photographs. Some media channels just carried photos or illustrations of Osama-bin-Laden. Most of the images available on internet are taken from the video footages released by Al-Queda as part of their statements.
US public opposed the lawyer Stanley Cohen who defended Ghaith. Leaflets handed out near the Manhattan courthouse, where trial was conducted, describe the Jewish attorney as a “traitor” and an “enemy of Jews, Israel and America.” Similar fliers were distributed around his Lower East Side loft. Several family members of the victims of Sept 11 twin tower tragedy attended the trial.