Ex-Osama aide gets life term for Nairobi attack

By ANTONY KARANJA.

A former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden received a life sentence in a US prison for his role in the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

Wadih El-Hage, who served as bin Laden’s secretary in Sudan, was sentenced 12 years ago for the bombings that killed 224 people.

El-Hage is one of the four people convicted in 2001 for their roles in the bombings.

The Lebanese-born US citizen said before he was sentenced that disasters that hit the US were “Allah’s punishment” for injustice against himself and others by the US.

He referred to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 which claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Americans and injured many others.

He also referred to superstorm Sandy which affected 24 states and devastated parts of the New Jersey coast. It was the second-costliest hurricane in US history.

New York Federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan said El-Hage lacked any remorse and was likely to commit further acts of terrorism if freed.

“You are a committed terrorist who has betrayed your country,” judge Kaplan said.

“It is necessary to deter others. It is necessary to prevent you from resuming terrorist activities,” the judge said.

Source: Daily Nation (24/04/2013): http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Ex-Osama-aide-gets-life-term/-/1056/1757654/-/v9bmxl/-/index.html