Nosair, El Sayyid (1956–)

El Sayyid Nosair is serving a life sentence in prison for participating in a conspiracy that involved, in part, the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City; six people were killed and 1,000 more injured. Nosair has also been found guilty of the 1990 murder of militant Zionist Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Like his spiritual leader Omar Abdel Rahman, Nosair was not actually charged with the 1993 blast; he was instead convicted on racketeering charges—tried for carrying out a “holy war” against the United States. Prosecutors claimed that the 1993 bombing and the earlier assassination of Kahane were two acts in the larger conspiracy.

Born in Egypt, Nosair immigrated to the United States and found a job as a maintenance worker in Jersey City, New Jersey. He attended the Jersey City mosque of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, spiritual leader ...