© AP Photo/ File Photo
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, now 22 years old, was named specifically in the warning. Tsarnaev is currently on death row for the detonation of an improvised explosive device during the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured some 280 on April 15, 2013.
"If the U.S. administration kills our brother the hero Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or any Muslim, it... will bring America's nationals the gravest consequences," Zawahri said in the video statement.
Zawahri took over as the leader of al Qaeda, following the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
In the statement, Zawahri urged followers to take as many Westerners captive as possible, Reuters reports. Zawhri explained that those kidnap can be traded for Muslim prisoners.
Tsarnaev, a student at the University of Massachusetts at the time, carried out the plot with his older brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police. Tsarnaev was captured a few days later.
Originally from Kyrgyzstan, the Tsarnaev brothers became naturalized US citizens. The younger Tsarnaev admitted that the bombings were revenge for innocent Muslims who were killed in American wars.
During his sentencing, Tsarnaev apologized for his actions, saying:
"I prayed for Allah to bestow his mercy upon the deceased, those affected in the bombing and their families. Allah says in the Quran that with every hardship, there is relief. I pray for your relief, for your healing, for your well-being, for your strength."
He was then given six death sentences, 20 sentences of life in prison, and four more sentences of seven to 25 years. Appeals by his lawyers could take years, or even decades, indicating that an execution in the near future is unlikely.
Reader Comments
Usama always denied complicity in the 9/11 tragedy, although he often referred to it as a natural reaction against the illegal war in Iraq, and the Whahabiist rejection of US military control of Medina,
I will also note that the Delta Seal team 6, who performed the murder, were mostly killed in Afghanistan in a helicopter crash, not too long after they chucked Usama's remains out over the Hindu Kush. The idea that Usama was given a proper moslem burial at sea is nothing more than an convenient piece of post-history.
And another note: since the Nuremberg trials, the idea of simply following orders is in no sense any defence. You are required to refuse orders that are clearly illegal. Which in the American Armed Forces, would be a career-ending move.
These kinds of comments infuriate me ...
"he could of done some good ... ?
huh?
geez - you bug me lots