Militant sentenced to 19 years in 2012 Benghazi attack

A Libyan militant has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison by a federal judge for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

The militant, Mustafa al-Imam, was convicted by a jury last year of conspiring to provide support to the terrorists who were responsible for the siege on the main diplomatic mission and a CIA annex.

During the trial in Washington last spring, the jurors also convicted alImam of destroying the complex and endangering lives but deadlocked on murder charges.

AlImam, 47, was the second person sentenced in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, which became the subject of a contentious congressional inquiry sought by Republican critics of the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state at the time.

“We have not rested in our efforts to bring to justice those involved in the terrorist attacks on our facilities in Benghazi, which led to the death of four courageous Americans — Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Ambassador Christopher Stevens — and we never will,” John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said after sentencing Thursday.

Judge Christopher Cooper sentenced alImam to 19 years and six months in prison.

Matthew Peed, a lawyer for alIman, said an appeal was in the works.

“We are disappointed by the sentence, which was based on allegations the jury did not believe,” Peed wrote. “The judge did find that Mr. alImam played a minor role in these events and harbored no animus towards America, which was encouraging. We look forward to an appeal, and hope those truly responsible for this attack are brought to justice.”

Federal prosecutors had argued that alImam, who was captured in 2017 in Libya, should have received the maximum sentence of 35 years.

The militia leader who orchestrated the siege, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2018, well short of the life sentence sought by the Justice Department.

Stevens, the ambassador, and Smith, another State Department employee, were killed when a mob of militants tried to storm the main U.S. diplomatic mission, which was set on fire. Stevens was a native of Northern California who graduated from UC Berkeley.