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Justice Department to seek death penalty in embassy bombings case
NEW YORK (CNN)--The U.S. government will seek the death penalty against at least one defendant in the case stemming from the August 1998 twin bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, sources told CNN Wednesday. Attorney General Janet Reno has authorized government prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-'Owhali, one of the alleged perpetrators of the Nairobi, Kenya, car bomb attack on Aug. 7, 1998, said a senior government official familiar with the case.
Al-'Owahli's attorneys received a letter from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York informing them of the decision, said David Bruck, one of his lawyers. Bruck, an anti-death penalty advocate with a history of defending capital cases, said the government's choice was not smart politically. "As a matter of counterterrorism policy, this is self-defeating," Bruck said in a telephone interview. "The government accuses Mr. Al-'Owhali of wanting to blow himself up and reach paradise. Now the government is willing to finish the job for him, with a billion Muslims watching around the world," Bruck said. "If the government's accusations are true, there could no more glorious death--this is just not a smart way to protect ourselves," he said. The Kenya explosion killed 212 people, including 12 Americans, according to the latest superceding indictment filed with the court on Monday. The Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, explosion killed 11 people, according to the charges. Al-'Owhali, a 28-year-old from Yemen, is one of 17 men indicted in what the government alleges was a broad conspiracy led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden to kill Americans around the world. The conspiracy's overt acts included the 1998 embassy bombings, as well as efforts to kill U.S. soldiers stationed in Somalia and Saudi Arabia, according to the indictment. Al-'Owhali is one of three defendants in U.S. custody who are eligible for the death penalty. The others are Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, another alleged Kenya bomber, and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, the only alleged Tanzania bomber in custody. A senior government official familiar with the case said a second request for authorization to seek the death penalty--against defendant Khalfan Khamis Mohamed--is now pending, after formally being requested by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. Three other defendants, including two naturalized Americans, are in U.S. custody. They are accused of participating in a conspiracy but not of having a direct role in the embassy attacks. Three other defendants are in custody in England and their extradition is being sought. Eight defendants, including bin Laden, remain fugitives, with a standing government offer of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrests. Al-'Owhali, and the others if similarly prosecuted, would be the first defendants in a U.S. death penalty case for an international terrorist act. The embassy bombings trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was the first federal defendant convicted in a death penalty case since the last federal execution in 1963. RELATED STORIES: Suspect in Tanzania embassy bombing in U.S. custody RELATED SITES: US District Court, Southern District of New York | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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