A suspected ringleader of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans was ordered held without bond during a Wednesday hearing in D.C. federal court.
Ahmed Abu Khattala, who has pleaded not guilty to a single conspiracy charge, was seized in a secret raid in Libya in June. He is the first alleged perpetrator apprehended in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.
The State Department in January designated Abu Khattala a terrorist, calling him a 'senior leader' of the Benghazi branch of the militant organization Ansar al-Sharia, a group that arose after the 2011 fall of the Libyan regime of Moammar Gaddafi.
In court papers filed Tuesday evening, federal prosecutors said Abu Khattala organized the attacks at a U.S. diplomatic mission and a nearby CIA annex out of a sense of ideological fervor. In the days before the attacks, he 'voiced concern and opposition to the presence of an American facility in Benghazi,' prosecutors wrote.
Last year, prosecutors said, Abu Khatalla expressed anger that U.S. forces captured Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, also known as Anas al-Libi, in Tripoli in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. According to prosecutors, he then took steps to retaliate.
Abu Khattala's public defender, Michelle Peterson, on Wednesday did not argue that her client should be granted a bond. During a Saturday hearing she told a federal magistrate judge that Abu Khattala was not guilty of the charge of 'conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death' on which a federal grand jury in the District indicted him the previous week. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
In a three-count criminal complaint unsealed June 17, Abu Khattala was also charged with killing a person during an attack on a federal facility and a weapons offense. A U.S. official described the single charge in the indictment as a 'place holder' designed to avoid revealing publicly too much of the case's evidence while a search for witnesses continues.
In coming weeks, federal officials said, a superseding indictment could bring additional charges and disclose more evidence in the case. One of the additional charges could carry the death penalty, according to a U.S. official.
According to a U.S. official who has reviewed the evidence against Abu Khattala, it includes pictures and video from the attacks, testimony from witnesses and evidence of the attacks' planners boasting of their involvement.
Few high-profile terrorism cases have been prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, even though many concern plots targeting the city. The Abu Khattala case will be led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. DiLorenzo, who joined the national security unit in 2008.
Abu Khattala is being held in the Alexandria detention center.
Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.
Get updates on your area delivered via e-mail
Entities 0 Name: U.S. Count: 10 1 Name: Abu Khattala Count: 8 2 Name: Benghazi Count: 3 3 Name: Libya Count: 3 4 Name: CIA Count: 1 5 Name: District Count: 1 6 Name: Tripoli Count: 1 7 Name: Ansar al-Sharia Count: 1 8 Name: State Department Count: 1 9 Name: Moammar Gaddafi Count: 1 10 Name: J. Christopher Stevens Count: 1 11 Name: Michael C. DiLorenzo Count: 1 12 Name: D.C. Count: 1 13 Name: Tanzania Count: 1 14 Name: Abu Khatalla Count: 1 15 Name: Anas al-Libi Count: 1 16 Name: Libyan Count: 1 17 Name: Alexandria Count: 1 18 Name: Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai Count: 1 19 Name: Washington Count: 1 20 Name: Ahmed Abu Khattala Count: 1 21 Name: Michelle Peterson Count: 1 22 Name: Kenya Count: 1 23 Name: Sari Horwitz Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1xepAB1 Title: Benghazi suspect organized attack out of ideological fervor, prosecutors say Description: Ahmed Abu Khattala, one of the suspected ringleaders of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, voiced opposition to the presence of a U.S. facility there in the days before the assault and organized the attack out of a sense of ideological fervor, according to government prosecutors.