Jury Selection Continues in Terrorism Trial of Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law

By Kiran Sury

Jury selection continued Tuesday in the trial of Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law and suspected terrorist Sulaiman Abu Ghaith.

Four jurors were confirmed from the previous day, but presiding U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan postponed further selections until the next day.

Dressed in a grey suit and sporting a trim white beard, Abu Ghaith sat calmly through the court proceedings as he listened through an interpreter.

Abu Ghaith, a former Al-Qaeda spokesman who appeared in many videos with Bin Laden, was arrested last year in Jordan and extradited to the U.S. He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to kill United States nationals, conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists, and actually providing support and resources to terrorists.

In a somewhat puzzling move, the defense team is trying to get alleged 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to testify on Abu Ghaith’s behalf. Some legal observers question this move, predicting that an American jury might react unfavorably to his testimony.

The prosecution is using Abu Ghaith’s videos against him, including one in which he said, “the storm of airplanes will not stop.”