NEW YORK, Feb 5 (News Agencies) - Four defendants the U.S. says has ties to Osama Bin Laden were to stand trial Monday for their alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The trial was scheduled to open Monday morning in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The New York Times reported Monday that the government's first witness was likely to be an informer who worked for Saudi exile bin Laden until 1996, when he agreed to cooperate with the American authorities.
Monday was to be devoted to opening statements from both sides, with witnesses expected to begin taking the stand on Tuesday.
In their opening remarks, prosecutors are expected make the case that bin Laden orchestrated a global "terrorist" conspiracy, including the 1998 embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which left 224 people dead and thousands injured.
The prosecutors are expected to contend that the four defendants were an integral part of the broader conspiracy that, the government says, spanned much of the last decade and reached into dozens of countries, The New York Times reported.
The daily said that the trial was expected to last nine to 10 months. Jury members will not be identified by name but will be referred to by numbers, to ensure security and privacy.
Two of the defendants could face the execution if they are convicted. It is the first trial involving the federal death penalty to go before a Manhattan jury in nearly half a century.
In March 1998, bin Laden declared war on the United States with a fatwa calling on his followers to "kill and plunder American citizens."
Five months later, the two U.S. embassies in east Africa were bombed simultaneously and 224 people died.
Washington blamed bin Laden and retaliated with missile strikes on his alleged bases in Afghanistan and Sudan. U.N. aviation and financial sanctions against the Taliban followed.
Bin Laden is believed to be living in Afghanistan under the protection of the ruling Taliban. His organization, al-Qaeda or "The Base," is an extensive network that is alleged by the United States to have fostered terrorist activities around the world.
The millionaire Saudi dissident is accused of financing groups and is among the 10 most wanted men in the United States, while at the same time remains a hero to many in the Islamic world.
