The United States is seeking life imprisonment for Suleiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, who was convicted on terrorism charges last March by a Manhattan jury.

Prosecutors said Abu Ghaith, 48, served as the mouthpiece of the Al Qaeda organization after the 9/11 attacks, recruiting new members and making "bone-chilling" threats to Americans through inflammatory videos he recorded  during his stint.

Like Us on Facebook

Ghaith was found guilty by a Manhattan federal jury for conspiracy to kill Americans and providing support to Al Qaeda. The prosecutors said they are seeking life imprisonment in order for it to serve as a terrorism deterrent to would-be terrorists.

Ghaith was born in Kuwait and married bin Laden's eldest daughter. He is the highest Al Qaeda figure to have been convicted in the US since the 9/11 attacks.

Prosecutors pointed out in the papers they filed last Monday to the court  that terrorism has a high recidivism rate and that rehabilitation is often difficult.

Lawyers for Ghaith argued that he should be sentenced to only 15 years since Ghaith did not intentionally plot to murder Americans and that his speeches did not prove effective as the organization was already crumbling.

However, prosecutors argued that Ghaith played a central role in the Al Qaeda organization, plotting to kill Americans and proudly announcing that more tragedies of similar magnitude would happen again.

The prosecutors added that life imprisonment is the only appropriate jail sentence for Ghaith. He will be sentenced on September 23 before the court of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.

On September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked when four commercial airplanes were transformed into missiles and crashed into the World Trade Center buildings in New York, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a vacant lot in Pennsylvania.

More than 3,000 people died in the attacks which were traced back to the Al Qaeda.

TagsOsama, 9/11, bin laden, bin laden son, Al-qaeda