THIS morning in a New York City courtroom Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, former al-Qaeda spokesperson and Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, was found guilty of three counts: conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and providing support to terrorists. The jury returned its unanimous verdict fairly quickly, on the morning of the second day of deliberation. Mr Abu Ghaith was the most prominent member of al-Qaeda to be tried in a civilian court.



The conspiracy charges were confusing. Technically, under the law’s broad scope, Mr Abu Ghaith could be held responsible for terrorist acts that occurred even before he joined the al-Qaeda conspiracy. Perhaps because of this confusion, the prosecution was very clear in its arguments that the defendant knowingly and willingly aligned himself with bin Laden and al-Qaeda. In the months after the 2001 attacks he encouraged young Muslims to kill Americans in several video and audio broadcasts, which were played repeatedly throughout the trial. His own testimony did not help. He denied being a member of al-Qaeda, but also spoke about being at bin Laden’s side mere hours after the 9/11 attacks. George Venizelos of the FBI, who works on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, has compared Mr Abu Ghaith’s role in al-Qaeda with that of a mob consigliere.



Mr Abu Ghaith was arrested only a year ago. This speedy verdict followed an efficient three-week trial in a Federal civilian court. Many see this as proof that civilian courtrooms are quite good at handling terrorism trials. Compare this case with the snail-like pace of the pre-trial military-commission hearings in Guantánamo Bay, where five of the surviving architects of the 9/11 attacks are being tried. Efforts to try terrorists in military tribunals have proved embarrassing.

Sentencing for Mr Abu Ghaith will take place on September 8th. Many suspect he will receive life in prison. Some speculate he will be sent to a super-max high-security prison in Colorado, where Richard Reid (the shoe bomber), Zacarias Moussaoui (a 9/11 conspirator) and a host of other al-Qaeda operatives reside. Stanley Cohen, the defendant’s lawyer, will likely appeal.