Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Ahmed Abu Khatallah Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for September 2012 Attack in Benghazi, Libya
Four Americans, Including Ambassador, Were Killed; Three Others Were Seriously Wounded
Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah, 47, a Libyan national, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison on federal terrorism charges and other offenses stemming from the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. government personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty died in the attack at the Mission and the nearby Annex in Benghazi.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu, Assistant Director Michael McGarrity of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, and Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

Khatallah was captured in Libya on June 15, 2014, and brought to the United States to face trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was found guilty by a jury on Nov. 28, 2017, following seven weeks of trial, of one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists, one count of providing material support or resources to terrorists, one count of maliciously destroying and injuring dwellings and property, and placing lives in jeopardy within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and one count of using and carrying a semiautomatic assault rifle during a crime of violence.

According to the government’s evidence, Khatallah was a leader of an extremist militia named Ubaydah bin Jarrah, which operated outside the law, and in the months prior to the attacks, he sought to incite violence by his and other militia groups against the presence of the United States in Libya. In early September of 2012, he and other members of his group mobilized for an attack by stockpiling truckloads of weaponry.

On the night of Sept. 11, 2012, according to the government’s evidence, Khatallah directed his group to carry out the violence, striking first at the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi. A group of men, armed with AK-47 rifles, grenades, and other weapons, swept into the Mission compound, setting fires and breaking into buildings. During that violence, Ambassador Stevens and Mr. Smith valiantly tried to protect themselves when the attackers stormed into a villa, but they were fatally overcome by thick, black smoke when the attackers set a fire. A State Department employee, who tried to guide them to safety, was injured.

Before, during and after the attack, Khatallah maintained contact with his group in a series of cellphone calls. Also, according to the government’s evidence, for much of the attack, he positioned himself on the perimeter of the compound and kept others, including emergency responders, from getting to the scene. The government’s evidence also showed that Khatallah made calls to leaders of other militia groups warning them not to interfere with the attack.

Following the attack at the Mission, in the early hours of Sept. 12, 2012, the violence continued at a nearby CIA annex, first with gunfire and then with a precision mortar attack. Mr. Woods and Mr. Doherty died in the mortar attack, and a State Department employee and U.S. government security specialist were seriously wounded.

This case was investigated by the FBI New York Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force with substantial assistance from various other government agencies, including the two victim agencies, the CIA and the Department of State.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Crabb, Jr., Michael C. DiLorenzo, and Julieanne Himelstein of the District of Columbia, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Opher Shweiki. Assistance was provided by Trial Attorney C. Alexandria Bogle of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth Kohl and David Mudd of the District of Columbia.

Assistance also was provided by Victim/Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant, Paralegal Specialists Rayneisha Booth and Jessica Moffatt, Legal Assistant Matthew Ruggiero, and Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Tonya Jones, all of the District of Columbia.

Topic(s):
Counterterrorism
Component(s):
National Security Division (NSD)
USAO - District of Columbia
Press Release Number:
18-861
Source

22 years is a joke. Pathetic. Pitiful.

WTF is the matter with our judicial system?

This sentence is truly pathetic.

So definitely not a protest that got out of hand. Good to know.

Unreal. POS should be at Gitmo till he expires. Then have a ham sandwich shoved up his ass and his corpse thrown into the surf.

Tried by the DOJ? I smell comrade Zeros stench on that. Regards 18DAI

Prison is too good for him. He should be released into the general population at Cook County... The problem will fix itself very shortly.

He must have rolled over on his fellow jihadists to get that sentence. But reading further I see he was acquitted on the murder charge

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
So definitely not a protest that got out of hand. Good to know.

My first thought as well.

So when does Hillary have her day in court for Benghazi?

Why was this case brought into US courts in the first place? He should be rotting in Guantanamo.

He was on foreign soil

He’s a foreigner

They know he did it, why not put a bullet in him and leave his carcass to rot.

All this theater with dragging them to our courts is wasteful. Even my granny knew “some people need killing”.

quote:

Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
So when does Hillary have her day in court for Benghazi?

^ This

The attackers had some good intel on their targets in Benghazi.

Maybe he rolled over on the chain of information leading back to Hillary's private email server.

Maybe.

For an Islamic religious fanatic, only 22 years is like an INCENTIVE to kill more infidels. He will be a hero and be supported in luxury for the rest of his life when he gets out.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Why was this case brought into US courts in the first place? He should be rotting in Guantanamo.

That was Oshit-head's doing. Don't you remember when there was an uproar about KNOWN TERRORIST getting the same rights as civilians??? Or something along those lines. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now.

A foreign combatant in a foreign country. Why is this goat fucker breathing my oxygen? .33 cents for a 5.56 to the back of his skull, leave the corpse where it lays.

This is asinine.

The numbnuts in the Obama administration strike again.

GOOD!!
Now how do we get Clinton to stand trial for the betrayal of the Americans she sacrificed over there???

There's only one person I want to see charged, convicted, and sentenced for Benghazi.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
There's only one person I want to see charged, convicted, and sentenced for Benghazi.

I assume you speak of HRC...the bitch herself. I'm greedy...I'd like a second. Susan Rice spread the propaganda far and wide and KNEW it was an obstruction of justice.

He won't survive 22 years, not to worry...