U.S. jury partially convicts Benghazi consulate attacker

File photo: Pixabay/ Ashby C. Sorensen

June 14 (UPI) — A federal jury in Washington, D.C., handed down a partial guilty verdict Thursday for a suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans.

Mustafa al-Imam, 47, was convicted on one count each of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and maliciously destroying government property.

The jury was deadlocked on 15 other counts, which include murder and attempted murder. U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper ordered the jury to continue deliberating Monday.

U.S. Special Forces captured Imam in October 2017 during a raid in Libya before transferring him to the United States to face prosecution.

In November, a Washington, D.C., jury found another attacker, Ahmed Abu Khatallah, guilty of four of the 18 charges he faced for the attacks. He was convicted on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to attackers, destroying U.S. property and putting lives in jeopardy, and using or carrying a firearm during a violent crime. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The jury acquitted Khatallah of murder and other more serious charges for the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, State Department employee Sean Patrick Smith, and two contract security officers, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

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