Skip to Content

A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden who served as an Al-Qaeda’s spokesman was arrested in Turkey and brought to New York, according to government sources.

After a joint operation by Jordanian authorities and the FBI, Suleiman Abu Ghaith was captured and is expected to be brought to trial in federal court.

Abu Ghaith is being held in a detention facility in the New York area.

The Hollywood Gossip Logo

Initial public confirmation of Abu Ghaith’s capture came from Rep. Peter King (R-NY), a former chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

 

“I commend our CIA and FBI, our allies in Jordan, and President Obama for their capture of al-Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith,” King said.

“I trust he received a vigorous interrogation, and will face swift and certain justice.”

“Propaganda statements in which Abu Ghaith and his late father-in-law, Osama bin Laden, praised [the 9/11 attacks] are alone enough to merit the most serious punishment.”

Sources indicate that while a CIA role in the capture of Abu Ghaith could not be ruled out, the FBI took the lead role in the operation this time.

Records compiled by a United Nations sanctions committee show that Abu Ghaith was born in Kuwait in 1965, but that he left Kuwait for Pakistan in June 2001.

It was after the September 11 attacks that forever altered U.S. foreign policy that Abu Ghaith first surfaced as one of al Qaeda’s main spokesmen.

Later, U.S. officials believe he was part of a group of top al Qaeda figures that included one of bin Laden’s sons, Saad, who allegedly traveled to Iran.

There, the Iranian government claimed they were being held “in custody.”

It was reported in 2010, however, that Abu Ghaith had been inexplicably released by Iranian authorities and supposedly had returned to Afghanistan.

In 2011, a raid on a Pakistan compound left Osama bin Laden dead.