'Bin Laden spokesman' faces trial

A man prosecutors say is Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and former spokesman will go on trial next week despite claims by his lawyers that the government may have charged the wrong person.

Judge Lewis Kaplan denied a request to delay the trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Jury selection is set to begin on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, New York.

Attorney Zoe Dolan had written that the defence recently learned there may be a second person with a similar name held at Guantanamo Bay.

Prosecutors told the judge today that the second person went by different names and that Abu Ghaith was the right man.

Abu Ghaith is charged with conspiring to kill Americans in his alleged role as al-Qaida’s spokesman.