Four bin Laden terrorists jailed for life

Four terrorist followers of Osama bin Laden convicted in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa have been sentenced to life without parole.

They have been sentenced in Manhattan's US District Court.

Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, 28, Mohamed Al-'Owhali, 24, Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, 36, of Jordan, and Wadih El-Hage, 41, will not get parole.

Khalfan Mohamed's attorney said he wished to express gratitude to a jury that spared his life.

The 36-year-old had faced a possible death penalty in the case.

"The jury has found you guilty of crimes that mandate a life sentence, and I will, of course, impose a life sentence," said Judge Leonard B Sand.

The 1998 bombings of the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killed 231 people, including 12 Americans.

They were quickly blamed on bin Laden, who was indicted in the case, and al-Qaida.

A jury convicted all four defendants of conspiracy in May.

Prosecutors during a six-month trial blamed bin Laden and his organisation for directing the embassy bombings, using a satellite telephone and messengers.