The father of one of the British militants suspected of being ‘Jihadi John’ has admitted in court that he plotted with Osama bin Laden to blow up American embassies in 1998.
The Daily Mail reports that Adel Abdul Bary wept as he pleaded guilty to making a threat to use an explosive device and conspiracy to murder American people. He had been charged in relation to the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people including 12 Americans.
Mr Bary’s son, Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, is a British rapper who fled to Syria to fight with ISIS. He is one of the people suspected to be ‘Jihadi John’, the masked man who brutally murdered three hostages in videos posted online.
Although Bary made the the guilty plea in an attempt to reduce his sentence, judge Lewis Kaplan at Manhattan federal court said he wanted to hear further details before dropping more serious charges that carry a maximum life sentence.
Bary admitted that while he lived in London in the 1990s, he effectively acted as an Al Qaeda spokesman while the bombings took place. He said that he contacted the media to admit responsibility for the attacks and put reporters in touch with senior Al Qaeda members, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
According to the New York Post, Bary wiped tears from his eyes while reading from a statement which said: “I agreed with others … to kill American citizens anywhere in the world — either civilian or military.”
His charges include 213 counts of premeditated murder in Nairobi and a further 11 for the bombing in Dar es Salaam, as well as conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
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