[JURIST] Alleged al Qaeda operative Abu Anas al Libi, accused of involvement in the bombings of US embassies in Africa, died in a US hospital Friday. Al Libi was captured [JURIST report] by US military special forces in Libya in 2013 and brought to the US to stand trial. The Department of Justice confirmed his death citing “long-standing medical problems.” US authorities alleged that al Libi played a significant role in planning and executing the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which left more than 200 dead and 1,000 injured.

Many cases involving al Qaeda operatives are making their way through the US judicial system. In June the Department of Defense approved [JURIST report] the war crimes trial of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi [BBC profile], a former leader of al Qaeda’s army between 2002 and 2004, accused [charge sheet, PDF] of killing US service members and funding al Qaeda operations amongst other things. In March 2013 Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama Bin Laden, was captured [JURIST report] and thereafter indicted in federal court for plotting to kill Americans. In January 2013 the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the conspiracy conviction [JURIST report] of Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman Al Bahlul, Osama bin Laden’s media secretary. In October 2012 Egyptian-born Muslim cleric Abu Hamza Al Masri pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to 11 criminal charges, including taking hostages, providing material support to terrorist groups and conspiracy.