Amid tight security, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law goes to trial in Manhattan Monday on charges he conspired to kill Americans in his role as al Qaeda’s mouthpiece after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Streets around the federal courthouse — just blocks from Ground Zero — will be sealed off, and spectators at the trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith will pass through a metal detector before entering a courtroom where prosecutors will try to prove to an anonymous jury that the one-time terror-network spokesman tried to rally others to kill Americans.
Abu Ghaith is the highest-ranking al Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since the attacks.
Prosecutors say they plan to present during their opening statement a picture of Abu Ghaith seated with bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders the day after Sept. 11, 2001, as they make statements about the attacks.
Prosecutors will also show jurors post-9/11 videos in which Abu Ghaith promises more attacks on the United States as devastating as those that demolished the World Trade Center.