Twenty-eight years in prison is not long enough for a leader of the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, the District of Columbia Appeals Court ruled.
On the night of the raid, Ahmed Abu Khatallah commanded a militia that burned buildings and vehicles at the mission in Libya and launched a mortar attack.
Khatallah arranged four truckloads of weapons, and he participated in the attack with an AK-47 rifle. He lamented that his group was unable to “kill everybody” at the mission.
Khatallah was arrested in Benghazi in 2014. The jury convicted him of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorism, destroying property, and using an assault weapon during a crime of violence.
He was acquitted on 14 other counts, including murder and attempted murder.
Khatallah was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Four years ago, the DC appeals court rejected the sentence as “shockingly low.”
The second sentence was increased to 28 years, with the court stating that a 40-year sentence would stretch into his 80s for an “actuarial life sentence.”
However, the DC appeals court again ruled that the sentence did not reflect the seriousness of Khatallah’s crimes and remanded the case to the lower court.
“Khatallah helped prepare for and execute a premeditated, armed attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost,” Circuit Judge Karen Henderson wrote. “He pressured a Libyan security force not to patrol the Mission during the attack. And his only stated regret was that the terrorists did not kill every American at the Mission.
“Although Khatallah did not realize that goal, his failure to inflict harm—whether due to fortuity or incompetence—does not dilute the ‘gravely serious’ nature of his crimes,” she added.
Henderson also downplayed the age factor that was part of the lower court’s decision.
“After opining that Khatallah is a creature of his environment and is unlikely to recidivate, the district court nonetheless concluded
that Khatallah might resort to violence to achieve his political or religious goals and could, upon release, reconnect with his contacts in Libya to do so,” she wrote. “These offsetting conclusions do not suggest that there is a diminished need to protect the public from Khatallah, regardless of his age.”
The judge also rejected the lower court’s opinion that the full terrorism enhancement to the sentence was not warranted.
“Khatallah helped lead an armed attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost with the professed goal of killing Americans,” Henderson wrote. “That was a quintessential act of terrorism.”
