Appeals Court Deems 28-Year Sentence for Benghazi Attacker Inadequate
A federal appeals court has deemed a 28-year prison sentence insufficient for a Libyan militant linked to the 2012 attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya. The attacks resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The ruling was delivered by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has sent Ahmed Abu Khatallah’s case back to the district court in Washington, D.C., for resentencing.
Initially, in 2018, a district court judge had sentenced Khatallah to 22 years in prison. However, the appeals court found this sentence to be “shockingly” lenient given the gravity of the offenses. In 2024, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper increased the sentence to 28 years, but the appellate panel maintained that it still did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the crimes.
The D.C. Circuit judges criticized the 28-year sentence for not matching the severity of Khatallah’s actions. According to their statement, “Khatallah helped prepare for and execute a premeditated, armed attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost. 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.”
The decision was made by Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, J. Michelle Childs, and Florence Pan. Khatallah was captured in 2014 and later convicted on multiple terrorism-related charges in a trial held in 2017, although he was acquitted of murder.
The Benghazi attack has remained a contentious issue in U.S. politics. A Republican-led congressional panel criticized the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for security lapses and a delayed response to the attack on the diplomatic compound.
