Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a militant who appeared in videos representing al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks in 2001, had initially been picked up in Turkey and was brought to the United States in an operation led by Jordanian authorities and the FBI, the sources said.
The Turkish government deported him to Jordan, the sources said, where local authorities and the FBI took custody of him. He was brought to the United States in the last few days, a law enforcement source said.
U.S. officials including Attorney General Eric Holder announced the indictment on Thursday, saying he would be arraigned on Friday at U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, only blocks from the site of the World Trade Centre, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
Abu Ghaith becomes one of the highest-ranking al Qaeda figures to be brought to the United States for civilian trial. When Holder previously announced plans to try defendants in the September 11 attacks in the same courthouse, he was forced to back down by public opposition, and the trials were moved to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
New York police were less concerned Abu Ghaith's case would present a security problem than they were about the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others charged with plotting the attacks, a law enforcement source said.
"It's not the same. It doesn't rise to that level," said the source, who is familiar with the department's views and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The indictment accused Abu Ghaith of acting in a conspiracy that "would and did murder United States nationals anywhere in the world," listing actions before and after September 11, 2001.
"Among other things, Abu Ghaith urged others to swear allegiance to bin Laden, spoke on behalf of and in support of al Qaeda's mission, and warned that attacks similar to those of September 11, 2001 would continue," the indictment said.
It cited a May 2001 gathering at a house in Kandahar, Afghanistan, alleging Abu Ghaith urged guests to swear allegiance to bin Laden, and it says bin Laden summoned Abu Ghaith on the evening of September 11, requesting his assistance.
Bin Laden and Abu Ghaith appeared together the next morning, when the defendant warned the United States and its allies that a "great army is gathering against you" and that "the nation of Islam" would do battle against "the Jews, the Christians and the Americans," the indictment alleges.
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(Editing by Warren Strobel and Cynthia Osterman)
By Mark Hosenball and Daniel Trotta
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK | Fri Mar 8, 2013 12:05am GMT
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