A jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] on Thursday convicted Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Harun [press release] on federal terrorism charges for his involvement in the deaths of US servicemen in Afghanistan. Harun was charged with multiple terrorism offenses, including conspiracy to murder American military personnel in Afghanistan and conspiracy to bomb the US Embassy in Nigeria. According to acting US Attorney for the Easter District of New York, Bridget M. Rohde, “[t]he United States will be tireless in its efforts to hold al-Qaeda members accountable when they target American citizens serving their country abroad. We are firmly committed to bringing such terrorists to justice.”

The current conflict surrounding Afghanistan [BBC country profile] and the many military forces involved in the region continues to expose its citizens and US military personnel to harm and death. Last month the annual UN report of civilian casualties [JURIST report] in Afghanistan reported a record high for 2016. In November the International Criminal Court stated that during the war in 2001, the US may have been guilty of committing war crimes [JURIST report] against the Afghan people. In October the UN released a report finding that an attack by Islamic State militants [JURIST report] on a peaceful demonstration may have been a war crime. Also in October a German court ruled [JURIST report] that there would be no compensation to Afghan families that were victims of a 2009 airstrike, due to no compensation for violation of international humanitarian law. In September the UN called for an investigation [JURIST report] into a US airstrike that killed 15 people in Afghanistan, which was intended to target Islamic State militants.