Al-Qaida spokesman and bin Laden son-in-law captured in Jordan, in US custody

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Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., tells Andrea Mitchell that Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, Abu Ghaith, should be detained at Guantanamo Bay rather than U.S. soil, as reported. By Jonathan Dienst, Pete Williams and Andrea Mitchell, NBC NewsOsama bin Laden's son-in-law, who acted as a spokesman for al-Qaida, was captured in Jordan, and has been transported to New York where he will appear in court as early as Friday to face terror-related charges, several U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who appeared alongside bin Laden in a 2001 video in which they took responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, will be charged under an indictment that is still under seal.

"I commend our CIA and FBI, our allies in Jordan, and President Obama for their capture of al-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a member of the Homeland Security Committee, who first announced the news.


Follow @NBCNewsWorld  "I trust he received a vigorous interrogation, and will face swift and certain justice," he added.

King is also chairman of the Sub-Committee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

However, there were rumblings of dissent about how the terror suspect was being handled.

In an interview on MSNBC, House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers, R-Mich., strongly criticized the administration for reportedly bringing Abu Ghaith to the U.S.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, said that Mirandizing a top al-Qaida suspect and bringing him to the United States for trial creates a host of problems — instead of sending him to the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was built to handle high value prisoners.

"Al-Qaida leaders captured on the battlefield should not be brought to the United States to stand trial," Rogers said. "We should treat enemy combatants like the enemy. The U.S. court system is not the appropriate venue."Rapho-Gamma via Getty ImagesAl-Qaida spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, left, and Osama bin Laden in a photo taken from a video and released by Al Jazeera in 2001. In the video, which emerged shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Abu Gaith said: "Americans should know the storm of planes will not stop."Jordanian sources confirmed that Abu Ghaith was sent by Turkey via Jordan to Kuwait, and intercepted in Jordan and brought to the U.S.

According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Turkish officials captured Abu Ghaith in the capital Ankara, where a court ruled he had entered the country illegally with a fake passport. The Turkish government then ostensibly deported Abu Ghaith to his birthplace Kuwait, but arranged for him to transit through Jordan where he was ultimately taken into custody by U.S. law enforcement, the officials said.

According to Evan Kohlmann, an American counter-terrorism analyst for NBC News, Abu Ghaith fell out of sight after 2002.

"Nobody's heard a peep. Some people thought he was being held prisoner in Iran, others thought he might be dead," he said. "The Iran thesis might be taking on more credibility now, especially given that he just showed up in Turkey seemingly right out of thin air."

NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and Moufaq Khatib NBC News producer in Jordan contributed to this report.



This story was originally published on Thu Mar 7, 2013 11:47 AM EST

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