Bin Laden son-in-law pleads not guilty to plot to kill Americans

A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and a high-ranking al- Qaeda figure who threatened that violence against the United States would continue after the September 11th, 2001, attacks, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a charge of conspiracy to kill Americans.

Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a militant who once appeared in videos as a spokesman for al-Qaeda, made his initial appearance in a US district court in Manhattan, only blocks from the site of the hijacked aircraft strikes on the World Trade Center.

Abu Ghaith was captured on February 28th and brought secretly into the US on March 1st, prosecutors said in court. Government sources said he was arrested in Turkey. The balding, bearded Abu Ghaith was led handcuffed into the crowded courtroom, the largest in the courthouse. Dressed in blue prison garb, he appeared to be co-operative and to follow the proceedings closely through an interpreter, frequently nodding. A trial date will be set at a hearing on April 8th. – (Reuters)