Death Penalty Is Sought for One of Terrorists

A federal prosecutor urged jurors on Wednesday to impose the death penalty on a convicted terrorist who showed such “total lack of remorse” that he posed triumphantly for a photograph after participating in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 213 people.

Supported by testimony from grieving family members and the photo of Mohamed Rashed Daoud al-’Owhali with hands clenched together and raised high, the government opened penalty proceedings to decide whether the 24-year-old follower of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden should receive life in prison or be sent to the death chamber.

“The only punishment that does justice to the victims is the death penalty,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald told the same jury that on Tuesday convicted Al-’Owhali and three other defendants for taking part in what was portrayed as a worldwide conspiracy to murder Americans.

“Words cannot describe the horror he wrought,” the prosecutor said of Al-’Owhali.

The almost simultaneous attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Aug. 7, 1998, killed 224 people and injured more than 4,500, many seriously.

After deciding the fate of Al-’Owhali, a second proceeding will determine whether Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a 27-year-old Tanzanian who participated in the Dar es Salaam plot, should receive the death penalty.

Two other conspirators, Wadih El-Hage, 40, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Lebanon, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, a 35-year-old Jordanian, face life in prison without parole.

Anticipating the appearance of family members in the courtroom, defense lawyer David P. Baugh showed pictures and read aloud to the jury the name of each person who perished in the Nairobi bombing.

“These are the people who died that day,” he said. “. . . Each of these people were important. They didn’t die because they were bad or they were good. This is part of the saga.”

Before the jury entered the courtroom, Al-’Owhali shuffled through the same photos. He showed no emotion.

Baugh sought to present his client as representing a larger cause and America as a villain in the eyes of many people.

“Why [are] so many young people, these people, willing to kill themselves to strike America? Why does Bin Laden and al Qaeda [“The Base,” his organization] have more young people willing to die than projects they can do?

“I don’t think anyone can make an excuse for what happened,” Baugh told the jurors who viewed the autopsy photos with rapt attention and evident horror. “However, there can be an explanation. . . . The reasons surrounding this case are very, very complex and go back hundreds of years.”

The lawyer said that, as part of Al-’Owhali’s defense, he would show documentary videos in lieu of hours of testimony so jurors could “try to understand the perspective of these people who hate America.”

He said he also would zero in on U.S. policy toward Iraq and the assertion that since 1991 as many as 1.5 million Iraqis have died as the result of sanctions and other U.S.-backed actions.

Fitzgerald also sought to prepare the jury before family members took the witness stand.

“It will not be easy for you,” the prosecutor said. “. . . You are sitting there to make the most serious moral judgment. Remember, it was defendant Al-’Owhali who brought that horror into the world.”

Among the witnesses was Sue Bartley, whose husband, Julian Bartley, the consul general, and her son, Jay, a college student who was an intern at the Nairobi Embassy, were killed in the blast.

“There was no time to prepare,” Bartley said. “The pain is with me every day. Oftentimes, it is unbearable. . . . What is left is raw emptiness. Part of me is missing.

“I miss his laughter. I miss hearing his latest joke. I miss his good night kiss. . . . I miss those quiet times when we would go for a walk in the evening.

“My son was 20 years old. I will never understand the reason for Jay’s death. My son will never have the opportunity to complete college, pursue a career. Now he has no future.”

Tabassum Butt, whose 46-year-old brother, Fahat Sheikh, worked at the Nairobi Embassy and was killed, told the jury about the bomb’s effects on Sheikh’s children.

She said one son “keeps on drawing the embassy. He just keeps writing about the embassy. The only thing he draws is the embassy. He will just sit there and talk about his father.”

Indictments have been filed against 22 people in the twin attacks. Bin Laden and 12 other fugitives are on the list.

The U.S. government has posted a $5-million reward for Bin Laden’s capture. He is believed to be in Afghanistan under the protection of its Taliban regime.

On Wednesday, a Taliban spokesman condemned the court verdicts as “unfair” and pledged never to surrender the Saudi millionaire to the United States.

“He is a great holy warrior of Islam and a great benefactor of the Afghan people,” Abdul Anan Himat, a senior Taliban information spokesman, told Associated Press. “We won’t hand him over to America under any circumstances. It is our stated policy.”

The government said U.S. military forces in Bahrain, the headquarters of the 5th Fleet, have been on high alert since the weekend because of new intelligence that anti-American guerrillas were contemplating a strike. They declined to provide more information about the nature of the threat.

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Times staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this story.