Three of four Osama bin Laden followers convicted in the 1998 bombings of two United States embassies in Africa were today sentenced to life without parole in New York, where terrorism is no longer a distant reality.
Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 28, of Tanzania, was the first of the four defendants to be sentenced in US District Court in Manhattan only a few blocks away from the rubble of the World Trade Centre where more than 5,000 died in the terror attacks of September 11th.
He and Mohamed Rashed Al-'Owhali, 24, of Saudi Arabia, were sentenced to life without parole for direct involvement in the embassy bombings.
Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, of Jordan, received the same sentence for conspiracy.
Mohamed, convicted of helping to grind TNT and load the bomb that struck the embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, declined to address the court.
But through Mr David Ruhnke, his attorney, he said he "wishes to express gratitude to a jury that spared his life". Mohamed had faced a possible death penalty.
"The jury has found you guilty of crimes that mandate a life sentence, and I will of course impose a life sentence," said Judge Leonard B. Sand.
Al-'Owhali rode the bomb vehicle up to the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and tossed stun grenades at guards before fleeing.
A total of 231 people were killed in the two bombings - 12 Americans and 219 Africans.
The sentencing came after an appeal by the spouses of two people killed in the attacks on August 7th, 1998, for life sentences.
AP