Saudi Khaled Al-Fawwaz has been found guilty in New York courts for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement on the verdict of Al-Fawwaz that he played a critical role for "Al-Qaeda in its murderous conspiracy against America." Bharara added that Al-Fawwaz dedicated himself to Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s, of which he "was one of Osama bin Laden's original and most trusted lieutenants." He served first as the leader of an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, then as a leader of Al-Qaeda's terrorist cell in Kenya, and finally as bin Laden's media adviser in London, he added.
In his statement, Bharara noted that from London, Al-Fawwaz served as "Bin Laden's bridge to the West in the pre-Internet era." Al-Fawwaz was extradited from the UK to the US in 2012.
The embassies in Kenya and Tanzania's bombings resulted in the "murder of 224 innocent people, and the wounding of thousands more." From the time of the embassy attacks, he said, all 10 defendants tied to those attacks have now been convicted by trial or guilty plea in a Manhattan courtroom.
From his one-time place at the top of Al-Qaeda's membership list, Bharara said Al-Fawwaz now joins the long membership list of convicted, jailed terrorists, along with the two other major figures in the past year alone, Abu Ghayth and Abu Hamza.
Last month, Mustafa Kamel Musatafa, known as Abu Hamza Al-Masri, was sentenced by Manhattan Federal Court to life in prison.