On 17 July, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the 28-year sentence handed out to Ahmed Abu Khatallah was too lenient and does not reflect the seriousness of his crimes. Abu Khatallah was convicted of terrorism-related charges in the 2012 attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. His initial sentence of 22 years in 2018 was already increased to 28 years in 2024. Khattala was captured in 2014 and convicted of multiple terrorism-related charges after a 2017 trial, but the jury acquitted him of murder.
