NEW YORK: The terrorism trial of Osama Bin Laden’s son-in-law started on Monday in a New York federal court amid tight security.

Experts here told reporters the federal prosecution had major legal and political implications because Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, 48, is the highest-ranked Al Qaeda figure to face trial on US soil since the 9/11 attacks.

The prosecutors plan to show the jury videos in which Abu Ghaith promised further and more devastating attacks.

Mr Gaith’s defence is offering some surprises, including an assertion last week that some of the government's evidence relates to a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with a similar name.

Abu Ghaith is married to bin Laden's eldest daughter, Fatima. He has said that he was trying to fly from Turkey to Kuwait last year when his flight landed instead in Jordan, where he was handcuffed and turned over to the United States.

He faces life in prison if convicted.