Court Upholds Life Sentence for Bin Laden Aide

Sentence was imposed for "unusually cruel, brutal" attack on a prison guard in 2000

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the life sentence given to a former Osama bin Laden aide who stabbed a federal prison guard in the eye even though it agreed there should have been greater efforts for him to attend his sentencing so he did not have to watch the proceeding on a video monitor.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Mamdouh Mahmud Salim's right to be present at his resentencing hearing two years ago was violated but that the error was not severe enough to warrant another sentencing.