US Seeks Life Imprisonment for Bin Laden's Son-In-law

Prosecutors want Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, to get life imprisonment for his role as al Qaeda's spokesman.

Abu Ghaith, who is the highest ranking al Qaeda member brought to trial in US since the September 2001 attacks, was convicted in March of charges that included scheming to kill Americans and providing support to al Qaeda.

Filing the court papers, prosecutors said that Abu Ghaith made bone chilling threats against America and his words were inciting, murderous and hateful.  Hence, giving him a life sentence will serve as a significant deterrent message to prospective terrorists, they said.

""Terrorism is a crime with high recidivism rates and rehabilitation is notoriously difficult," prosecutors said, according to Associated Press.

In their papers, prosecutors said Abu Ghaith was Bin Laden's right hand man after the September 11 attacks and often participated in videos for recruiting people to al Qaeda.

"Abu Ghaith repeatedly made unambiguous and bone-chilling threats that al Qaeda would continue to conduct terrorist attacks using airplanes," prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also said that Abu Ghaith enthusiastically supported al Qaeda and its mass murder of Americans. His speeches have helped al Qaeda to bring in more people for its suicide operations, they said, according to AP.

Giving his testimony in court, Abu Ghaith spoke about being called to a dark cave in Afghanistan to discuss the World Trade Center destruction.

He testified at the court that Bin Laden told him that "We are the ones who did it."

When Bin Laden asked him how America would respond, he told him that if America finds out that it was he who was behind the attack, then it won't sit still till it kills him and overthrows the Taliban state.

Five years ago, Abu Ghaith, married bin Laden's eldest daughter.

Videotapes of Abu Ghaith warning of more attacks against the U.S. were also seen by the Jurors. A video made on September 12, 2011 shows Abu Ghaith with Ayman al- Zawahiri, deputy of Bin Laden and Abu Hafs al - Masry, head of al  Qaeda's military operations. Bin Laden also was seen in the video taking credit for the attacks, according to Bloomberg.

 The filing of the papers in the District Court in Manhattan comes a month before the sentencing scheduled for September 23.

Earlier this month, Stanley Cohen, defense lawyer of Abu Ghaith, had asked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to sentence his client to 15 years imprisonment, which he felt was adequate punishment.

Cohen said that a 15 year sentence would really be 25 years, as Abu Ghaith had spent a decade in prison in Iran under extreme conditions, reports AP.