United States of America v Usama Bin Laden et al.
| Court |
United States District Court, S.D. New York, United States |
| Case number |
S(9) 98 Cr. 1023 (LBS) |
| Decision title |
Indictment |
| Decision date |
4 November 1998 |
| Parties |
- United States of America
- Osama Bin Laden
- Other defendants (Muhammad Atef, Ayman Al Zawahiri, Saif Al Adel, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, Khalid Al Fawwaz, Wadih El Hage, Anas Al Liby, Ibrahim Eida
|
| Other names |
- Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin
- Shaykh Usamah Bin-Ladin, Osama Bin Laden
|
| Categories |
Conspiracy, Terrorism, War crimes |
| Keywords |
Murder, Terrorism (terrorism, conspiring, killing of civilians, material support), Wanton destruction, war crimes |
| Links |
|
back to topSummary
The 1998 United States Embassy bombings were a series of attacks that occurred on 7 August 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the embassies of the United States in the East African cities of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. The date of the bombings marked the eighth anniversary of the arrival of American forces in Saudi Arabia.
Members of the al-Qaeda (terrorist group) were charged for planning and committing the bombing of the Embassies of the US in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Usama bin Laden is the head of Al-Qaeda and as such was amongst the people charged. The charges included also conspiracy to murder of US nationals anywhere in the world, US military personnel in Somalia and the Saudi Arabia Peninsula, US nationals serving in the Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the concealment of any such plans of Al-Qaeda.
back to topProcedural history
On 8 June 1998, Usama Bin Laden was indicted (under seal) on charges of ‘conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States’. In addition, the allegations stated that bin Laden was the head of the terrorist organisation called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.
On 4 November 1998, Usama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges of conspiracy to murder of US nationals anywhere in the world including in the United States, US military personnel in Somalia and the Saudi Arabia Peninsula, US nationals serving in the Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and in the concealment of al-Qaeda activities. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent Ziyad Khaleel in the United States.
back to topRelated developments
Bin Laden was placed on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists for his involvement in the 1998 US Embassy bombings.
From 2001 to 2011, bin Laden was a major target of the War on Terror, as the FBI placed a $25 million bounty on him in their search for him.
On 2 May 2011, Usama bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by members of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group and Central Intelligence Agency operatives in a covert operation ordered by United States President Barack Obama.
back to topLegally relevant facts
On 7 August 1998, the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. The bombings resulted in the death of 234 and approximately 4,650 people were injured.
Usama bin Laden and 20 other members of Al-Qaeda were charged with conspiracy to murder US nationals anywhere in the world including in the United States, US military personnel in Somalia and the Saudi Arabia Peninsula, US nationals serving in the Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and in the concealment of Al-Qaeda activities. (para. 11) Usama bin Laden allegedly planned and financed the attacks.
In addition, bin Laden and the other defendants were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US and against US property (para. 22).
In addition, the defendants were charged with conspiracy to destroy buildings and property of the United States (para. 26), conspiracy to attack national defence utilities (para. 30), bombing the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (paras. 33, 35), murder and use of weapons of mass destruction in Kenya and Tanzania (para. 37, 29, 41, 43).
Bin Laden issued his "Declaration of Jihad" with the aim of recruiting others to ‘kill Americans and encouraged other persons to join the jihad against the American enemy'.
back to topCore legal questions
- Was Usama bin Laden together with others responsible for the 1998’s Bombings of US Embassies?
back to topSpecific legal rules and provisions
- Title 18, Sections 1101, 1001, 844, 924 (c), 924 (2), 1623, 2332 (b), 2332 (a)(1), 2332 (a)(3), 956 (a)(1), 956 (a)(2)(A), 1114, 1116, 1117, 844 (f)(3), 844 (f)(1), 844 (f)(2), 844 (n), 2155 (a), 2155 (b), 930 (c) and 1111 of the US Code.
back to topFurther analysis
- R. Wedgwood, ‘Responding to Terrorism: The Strikes against bin Laden’, Yale Journal of International Law, 1999, Vol. 24, pp. 559- 576;
- F. Bisone, ‘Killing a Fly with a Cannon: The American Response to the Embassy Attacks’, New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law, 2000, vol. 20, pp. 93- 116;
- P.L. Bergen, Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, New York: Simon and Schuster 2001;
- M. K.B. Darmer, ‘Beyond Bin Laden and Lindh: Confessions Law in an Age of Terrorism’, Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, 2003,vol. 12, pp. 319-372;
- J. Lobel, ‘Use of Force to Respond to Terrorist Attacks: The Bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan’, Yale Journal of International Law, 1999, vol. 24, pp. 537-557;
- D.H. Shinn, ‘Al-Qaeda in East Africa and the Horn’, The Journal of Conflict Studies, 2007, vol. 27 (1);
- J. Trahan, ‘Trying a Bin Laden and Others: Evaluating the Options for Terrorist Trials’, Houston Journal of International Law , 2002, vol. 24, pp. 475-508;
- M. Greene, The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group 2005.
back to topInstruments cited
back to topRelated cases
back to topAdditional materials
- ‘Fast Facts: The Embassy Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania’, CNN, 6 October 2013;
- C. Bray, ‘U.S. Formally Drops Charges Against bin Laden', The Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2011;
- D. Eggen, ‘Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings?’, Washington Post, 28 August 2006;
- P. Hirschkorn,’ Embassy bombings trial revealed bin Laden links’, CNN, 16 October 2001;
- ‘U.S. Case Against bin Laden in Embassy Blasts Seems to Rest on Ideas’, The New York Times, 13 April 1999;
- J.C. McKinley, ‘Two U.S. Embassies in East Africa Bombed’, The New York Times, 8 August 1998;
- B. Weiser, ‘Two New Suspects Linked by U.S. to Terror Case’, The New York Times,18 September 1998;
- United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, ‘Press Release on the Indictment of Bin Laden and Atef Indicted for bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya, Tanzania’, US State Department, 4 November 1998;
- B. Weiser, ‘Grand Jury Indicts Bin Laden For Embassy Bombs, Terrorism’, The New York Times, 5 November 1998.
back to topSocial media links
- O. Zill ‘The U.S. Embassies Bombings Trial’, PBS;
- B. Snowdon & D. Johnson, ‘Primer on the Embassy Bombings and the U.S. Strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan’, Infoplease, 2007;
- ‘US Government - Bin Laden and Iraq Agreed to Cooperate on Weapons Development’, Free republic, 20 September 2000;
- M. Grunwald & V. Loeb, ‘Charges Filed Against bin Laden’, Washington Post, 5 November 1998;
- V. Loeb, ‘U.S. Jury Indicts Bin Laden on Terrorism Charges’, Washington Post, 25 August 1998;
- M. Grunwald, ‘Complaint Links Bin Laden to Bombing’, Washington Post, 29 August 1998.
