DHAKA: An attorney for Osama bin Laden's son-in-law has been sentenced to 18 months in prison on tax charges.

Stanley Cohen was sentenced Friday in federal court in Syracuse, New York, after pleading guilty to impeding the U.S. tax agency and failing to file tax returns, reports the abc News early Saturday.

However, he has said a trial and any appeals would have been a "tremendous" financial burden and called the prosecution a witch hunt, the report added.

Prosecutors say Cohen filed no tax returns for six years, requested a filing extension each year and made modest payments toward taxes due.

In September, Cohen's client Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (SOO'-lay-mahn AH'-boo gayth) received life in prison for acting as the voice of al-Qaida after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Cohen argued there was no evidence Abu Ghaith participated directly in terrorist plots.

BDST: 1214 HRS, NOV 22, 2014