Osama bin Laden’s spokesman and son-in-law has been captured by the United States, officials said yesterday, and is expected to be in Manhattan federal court today in an initial hearing to face terror charges, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The case marks a legal victory for the Obama administration, which has long sought to charge senior al-Qaida suspects in U.S. federal courts instead of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay.
Representative Peter King, R-Long Island, the former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, credited the CIA and FBI with catching Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in Jordan within the last week. He said the capture was confirmed to him by U.S. law enforcement officials. "Definitely, one by one, we are getting the top echelons of al-Qaida," said King. "I give the [Obama] administration credit for this: it’s steady and it’s unrelenting and it’s very successful."
