Bin Laden son-in-law gets life

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down a life sentence, as the prosecution had requested, to the 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born imam, who appeared on videos after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks pledging further strikes.

The judge had convicted Suleiman Abu Ghaith in March, and on Tuesday said that he had displayed no remorse for his actions.

"You, sir, in my assessment, are committed to doing everything you can to carry out al Qaeda's agenda of killing Americans," Kaplan said.

The defense had asked for a sentence of 15 years.

Abu Ghaith appeared on propaganda videos after the September 11 attacks, one October 2001 video where the imam said that "the storm of airplanes will not stop" was played for the jury. Another film showed to the jurors featured Abu Ghaith sat alongside bin Laden and two other top al Qaeda leaders as they tried to justify the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

The defendant's lawyers had argued the he was guilty only of delivering fiery speeches, likening Abu Ghaith to an outrageous shock-host on talk radio. Defense Attorney Stanley Cohen wrote in court papers that Abu Ghait "faces the harshest of penalties for talk - and only talk - which is at time zealous, pious and devout; at other times intemperate; at still others, offensive to core values of humanity." The US government's response to this said that comparing the preacher to an inflammatory radio host was "as absurd as it is offensive."

Abu Ghaith himself addressed the court in Arabic on Tuesday, quoting the Koran and saying he would not ask for mercy from anyone but God. As a witness during his own defense, he had denied charges of recruiting for al Qaeda, saying his role was only a religious one. Abu Ghaith said he agreed to meet with Bin Laden in a cave on the night of the September 11 attacks out of respect for bin Laden's standing as a sheikh.

msh/xx (AP, Reuters)