A man who said he was part of a plan to blow up commercial flights with bombs planted in his shoes testified in court Tuesday at the trial of Osama bin Laden's son in law, Sulaiman Abu Ghayth, Businessweek reported.
The man, Saajid Badat, told a federal jury in Manhattan that he plotted with Osama bin Laden and the man who claims to be the one who planned the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
"There were discussions with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Badat said, according to Businessweek. "It was more what I'd call it brainstorming of ideas."
Badat, 34, testified at a secret location in the United Kingdom via a closed-circuit television.
Abu Ghayth is accused of being a spokesman for al-Qaeda and having knowledge of plans to attack Americans by setting off shoe bombs in commercial jetliners and other methods.
Badat said he talked with top al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan between October and December 2001. They discussed three plots- one to blow up a domestic flight while it flew over America, another to set off a bomb on a flight from Europe to the U.S., and another to bomb a plane as it flew over Europe, according to Businessweek.
Badat testified that he pulled out of the planning in late 2001. He was arrested in the U.K. on terrorism charges in 2003, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in terrorism cases. Badat said he was motivated to testify after he learned that Mohammed, also known as KSM, is now on trial at Guantanamo Bay.
"I heard KSM was to be put on trial for 9/11" Badat said, Businessweek reported. "That was the primary reason, I wanted to provide evidence against him for this."
KSM was initially supposed to be tried in civilian court, but the Obama administration decided to prosecute him by military tribunal instead. Abu Ghayth is the most senior al-Qaeda member to be tried in a civilian court, Businessweek reported.
