WASHINGTON (CN) — A Libyan man charged with aiding the 2012 incursion on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi was sentenced Thursday to 19 and a half years in prison for his role in the fiery attack that left four Americans dead.
The sentence fell far below the maximum 35 years imprisonment recommended by federal prosecutors. Mustafa Al-Imam, 47, stood wearing an orange jumpsuit as U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper read aloud the sentence, with the families of victims, and one survivor of the attack, seated in the courtroom.
The case is only the second brought by the Department of Justice in the seven years since the shocking attack that fueled political backlash.
Alluding to protesters who last month broke into the heavily fortified U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq, the judge focused on the need to send a message abroad that attacks on Americans will not go unpunished.
“These folks are very exposed and very vulnerable targets, as recent events have shown. Anyone contemplating hurting them will have to face strict consequences,” Cooper said.
A federal jury found Al-Imam guilty last year of supporting terrorism and damaging U.S. property, but failed to reach a verdict on whether he was responsible for the death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, State Department officer Sean Smith and two CIA security contractors, Glen Doherty and Tyron Woods.
Video footage from the night of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack, showing buildings consumed by flames, captured Al-Imam carrying out maps and other documents containing sensitive information that the government argues were seized for the purpose of planning additional attacks on U.S. personnel.
Praising the government for its professionalism in the case, Cooper also thanked the family members of victims who testified to the pain of losing their loved ones and their desire to see justice carried out.
“It’s unfortunate that the politics of Benghazi has overshadowed the very real suffering that the victims and families have experienced and will continue to experience as a result of the events of Sep. 11, 2012,” the judge said.
In 2018, Cooper also sentenced militant leader Ahmed Abu Khattala to 22 years for his involvement in the Benghazi attack, disappointing federal prosecutors who pushed for a life sentence.
On Thursday, Cooper said he came to that decision reluctantly. The jury in that case at the end of a seven-week trial also failed to convict the Libyan defendant on the more serious charges brought against him, including the murder of U.S. officials.
The judge made clear that both Abu Khattala and Al-Imam had the right to a fair trial in the U.S. But with Abu Khattala’s sentence now appealed to the D.C. Circuit, Cooper said he would “not lose sleep imposing a different sentence.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cummings had urged Cooper to hold Al-Imam accountable for what he said was not just an attack on the diplomatic facility but a deliberate plot to maximize pain and humiliation for the U.S.
“This was an attack directed at the United States, at each and every one of us,” Cummings said.