Accused Bin Laden Aide Jailed in U.S. for Stabbing

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040503/us_nm/security_stabbing_dc_2

Accused Bin Laden Aide Jailed in U.S. for Stabbing
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By Gail Appleson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An accused former top aide to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) was sentenced on Monday to 32 years in prison for stabbing a guard through the eye with a sharpened comb while awaiting trial for conspiring with al Qaeda to kill Americans.

In an emotionally charged sentencing hearing, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim was confronted by his victim, who was left brain damaged and partially paralyzed and blinded.

"How about me? Look at me. Every day it hurts," shouted the prison guard, Louis Pepe, as he pointed at Salim from his wheelchair. "You, you were no good. It's dead, it's all gone. There's nothing there," he said, using his hand to cover the empty socket where his left eye had been.

Salim, 47, whom prosecutors say is the highest-ranking member of bin Laden's al Qaeda network to face trial in the United States, pleaded guilty in 2002 to attempted murder and conspiracy to murder a federal official. Prosecutors said the stabbing was part of a plan to free other al Qaeda members, take hostages and attack defense lawyers in the prison that day.

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