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Trial Of Suspects In Africa Embassy Bombings Opens
NEW YORK, Feb 5 (News Agencies) - The high-profile trial of four defendants allegedly linked to Osama Bin Laden for their role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania opened in New York Monday.
The four men are charged with the deaths of 12 U.S. nationals who were among 224 killed in near-simultaneous explosions on August 7, 1998 at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
All four, believed to be members of an Islamic group led by Saudi dissident bin Laden, have pleaded innocent.
Assistant U.S. attorney Paul Butler's opening remarks focused on setting the scene for the 18 jury volunteers - 12 members and six alternates - as well as linking the bombings to bin Laden.
"On August 7, 1998, it's business as usual in the American embassy in Nairobi, Kenya," Butler started off. "In the blink of an eye, everything changes. A truck enters the parking lot of the embassy, in the trunk of this truck was a powerful bomb."
"Kenya, Tanzania and the United States will never be the same," Butler said. "And for that, this trial seeks justice."
Butler said the prosecution intends to introduce a surprise witness as well as confessions by one of the accused to bolster their case.
Defense lawyers have tried in vain to discover the identity of the surprise witness, entered in court records under the code name "CS-1," and who could take the stand as early as Tuesday.
Butler added that he intends to bolster the government case with confessions by at least one of the accused obtained while under detention in Kenya.
Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization is an extensive network that the United States alleges has funded attacks around the world.
Bin Laden - a millionaire Saudi Arabian who broke with his country's royalty and is believed to be living in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taliban - is among the 10 most wanted men in the United States.
Two of the four men on trial could face the death penalty if convicted: Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 27, a Tanzanian accused of participation in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam and Mohamed Rashid Daoud al Owhali, 23, a Saudi accused of throwing a grenade at embassy guards in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
Wadih el Hage, 40, a Lebanon-born U.S. citizen accused of once serving as bin Laden's personal secretary, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 35, of Jordan, accused of helping plan the bombing in Kenya, face life in prison if convicted.
According to the charges, prosecutors will portray the men as key members of al-Qaeda.
A two-year effort by U.S. federal agents worldwide marshaling information about al-Qaeda culminated in the arrests of 22 people accused in the bombings, the 160-page indictment said.
Judge Leonard Sand opened the hearings by thanking the 18 jury members who were selected from an original pool of 13,000. The jury is to remain anonymous for the length of the trial, which could last up to one year.
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