Ex-al-Qaida spokesman tells of meeting bin Laden

NEW YORK (AP) — In a courtroom surprise, Al-Qaida’s spokesman after the Sept. 11 attacks took the witness stand on his own behalf Wednesday at his terrorism trial, testifying that Osama bin Laden asked him in 2001 to lecture to training camp recruits.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith’s decision to testify was announced by his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, who surprised a nearly empty courtroom that quickly filled with spectators as word spread.

The 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born defendant has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to kill Americans and aid al-Qaida. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

Testifying through an Arabic interpreter, Abu Ghaith said he went to Afghanistan for the first time in June 2001 because he had a “serious desire to get to know the new Islamic government in Afghanistan.”

He said he met bin Laden for the first time when the al-Qaida leader, who was living in Kandahar, Afghanistan, summoned him after hearing that he was a preacher from Kuwait.