Ali Mohamed - Arrest and Trial

Arrest and Trial

In 1998, after the bombings, FBI agents searched Ali’s apartment 2 weeks after. They found evidence of terrorist activities which included plans and scripts of Al-Qaeda training. Ali Mohamed had made plans to leave the country to meet with Osama bin Laden. However he was subpoenaed to testify in the trial of the other suspects. The same day of the trial, Mohamed was arrested as a key suspect in the embassy bombings.

Just before the trial, the FBI ordered for a Polygraph test to be conducted on Mohamed but later was discarded after Mohamed struck a guilty plea to receive life sentence without parole. The deal between Mohamed and the government was struck on October 13, 2000. He was charged with 5 counts of conspiracy. The sentencing trial as shown below identified the specific counts that Ali Mohamed was to be indicted. The first count charges a violation of title 18, under the United States code, section 2332(b) which is the conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States of America wherever they are in the world.in such case, the citizens were located at the embassy of the United States of America in Kenya and Tanzania. The second count was conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim outside the United States. This would include the conspiracy to kill US nationals employed by American military in the embassies. Count three was conspiracy to murder, through violating sections 1114 or 1116. Under section 1116, Ali sought to kill United States government employees under their roles as employees of the United States of America. Count five charges a conspiracy to destroy buildings or property owned or leased by the United States government. The government proved that Ali attempted and planned to destroy or damage building or property owned or leased by the United States government. Finally, count six is the conspiracy to destroy national defense utilities of the United States government. After the counts were read to Ali Mohamed, the court asked what details about his involvement that he could justify to the court about his role in the bombings which could lead to guilty charges. Ali told the court that he had been involved with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1980’s and was introduced to Osama bin Laden in the 1990’s. “In 1992, I conducted military and basic explosives training for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Among the people I trained were Harun Fadhl and Abu Jihad. I also conducted intelligence training for al Qaeda. I taught my trainees how to create cell structures that could be used for operations”. Ali then included information in the events leading up to the embassy bombings; “In the early 1990s, I assisted al Qaeda in creating a presence in Nairobi, Kenya, and worked with several others on this project. Abu Ubaidah was in charge of al Qaeda in Nairobi until he drowned. Khalid al Fawwaz set up al Qaeda’s office in Nairobi. A car business was set up to create income. Wadih el Hage created a charity organization that would help provide al Qaeda members with identity documents”. Ali then told the court that he was asked by bin Laden to identify possible targets of which he conducted surveillance on the American Embassy building.