The third audiotape of Osama bin Laden released this year was posted on an Islamic Web site on May 23.

The four-and-a-half-minute recording, in which Bin Laden criticizes the U.S. justice system over its effort to prosecute terrorists, was released three weeks after a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be tried in the U.S. in connection to the September 11 terrorist attacks, to life without parole.

The statement directed at the American people, is one of Bin Laden’s clearest regarding his operational involvement in the September 11 attacks.  “I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission,” bin Laden said. 

The recording also mentions prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  “All the prisoners to date have no connection with the events of September 11 and knew nothing about them, with the exception of two of the brothers, may Allah free them all,” bin Laden said.

In January, the Al Qaeda leader released his first audio statement in 13 months and warned of new attacks inside the U.S. while also offering a conditional truce.  In the second recording, released in April, bin Laden claimed that the West supports a “Zionist” war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Palestinian government.