UNITED STATES/KENYA: FEDERAL PROSECUTORS END THEIR CASE AGAINST FOUR OSAMA BIN LADEN FOLLOWERS ACCUSED OF 1998 US EMBASSY BOMBINGS IN AFRICA

Record ID: 337939

  • Title: UNITED STATES/KENYA: FEDERAL PROSECUTORS END THEIR CASE AGAINST FOUR OSAMA BIN LADEN FOLLOWERS ACCUSED OF 1998 US EMBASSY BOMBINGS IN AFRICA
  • Date: 4th April 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA (APRIL 4, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN DOWN/CU: FEDERAL COURTHOUSE IN LOWER MANHATTAN (2 SHOTS) 0.19 2. ARTIST RENDITION OF COURTROOM DURING LAST DAY OF PROSECUTION SIDE OF CASE 0.25 3. ARTIST SKETCH OF FOUR DEFENDANTS AND LAWYER 0.29 4. ARTIST SKETCH OF PROSECUTION TEAM 0.37 5. ARTIST SKETCH OF U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE LEONARD B. SAND 0.42 6. ARTIST SKETCH OF COURTROOM 0.48 NAIROBI, KENYA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. VARIOUS OF EMBASSY BOMBING AFTERMATH/ RESCUERS BRINGING OUT BODIES (4 SHOTS) 1.05 NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA (APRIL 4, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. WS: FEDERAL COURTHOUSE 1.08 9. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRED COHN, LAWYER FOR AL-'OWHALI SAYING: "The case is in litigation, and they put in their case and that's where it is. I don't think defence lawyers should be commenting on anybody's case until the case is over." 1.20 NAIROBI, KENYA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. SLV/MV/SV: U.S. INVESTIGATORS GOING THROUGH DEBRIS FROM BOMBING (3 SHOTS) 1.32 NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. SV: PROSECUTION EVIDENCE ON DISPLAY 1.38 12. CU: PORTION OF METAL GUARDRAIL SHOWING PITTING FROM BOMB BLAST 1.48 13. CU: WATCH FOUND IN RUBBLE 1.54 14. VARIOUS PARTS OF TOYOTA TRUCK THAT CARRIED BOMB (2 SHOTS) 2.06 15. VARIOUS OF MODEL OF BOMB SITE (3 SHOTS) 2.23 16. VARIOUS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE (3 SHOTS) 2.48 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th April 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA AND NAIROBI, KENYA
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4COEHUZFAPIQL4WG3EPPBCC5V
  • Story Text: Federal prosecutors ended their case against four
    followers of Osama bin Laden after two months of testimony
    aimed at proving the Saudi dissident headed a broad conspiracy
    to kill Americans.


    Prosecutors rested their case after reading into the
    record a communication from the London cell of bin Laden's
    militant organization al Qaeda claiming responsibility for the
    1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

    The trial will now be in recess until April 16 when
    defence lawyers will begin presenting their case.

    Testimony against the four defendants with ties to bin
    Laden began on Feb. 5, with the government calling more than
    80 witnesses, far fewer than they had initially planned.

    By reducing the number of witnesses, prosecutors sharply
    cut the length of the proceedings, which could have continued
    through the summer and into the fall.

    The four men on trial are among 22 defendants named in an
    indictment containing more than 300 counts of alleged
    participation in a broad conspiracy, beginning in 1989, to
    kill U.S. military personnel and civilians.

    The plot allegedly included the August 1998 bombings of
    the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi,
    Kenya.

    Bin Laden is among 13 fugitives listed in the indictment.

    The wealthy Saudi exile, who is believed to be living in
    Afghanistan, allegedly masterminded the twin embassy blasts
    that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

    Prosecutors focused on the alleged activities of al Qaeda,
    described as an "international terrorist group" run by bin
    Laden. They said the group was "dedicated to opposing
    non-Islamic governments with force and violence" with a goal
    of driving U.S. armed forces out of Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

    The indictment charged that bin Laden endorsed a fatwah,
    or religious decree, stating Muslims should kill Americans --
    including civilians -- anywhere in the world.

    Among the defendants was Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali,
    24, allegedly a passenger in the truck used in the Nairobi
    bombing. He and defendant Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a
    Tanzanian who allegedly took part in the Dar es Salaam
    bombing, could both face the death penalty if convicted.

    The lawyer for al-Owhali, Fred Cohn, declined to comment
    on the substance of the prosecution case. "The case is in
    litigation, and they put in their case and that's where it is.

    I don't think defence lawyers should be commenting on
    anybody's case until the case is over," said Cohn.

    The other defendants, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, of Jordan
    and Wadih El-Hage, 40, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in
    Lebanon, could face life in prison if convicted.

    There are several other defendants awaiting separate
    trials in New York. Among them is Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, who
    was severed from the current trial after he allegedly attacked
    a prison guard on November 1, 2000. Salim, allegedly a
    high-level adviser to bin Laden, will be tried on expanded
    charges later.


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