Abdel Rahman, Omar (1938–)

The blind cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman is serving a life sentence in the United States for inciting and masterminding the terror ring that carried out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City.

Born in Egypt, Abdel Rahman was the spiritual leader of Gama'a al Islamiyya, which was Egypt's largest terrorist organization in the late 20th century. Gama'a al Islamiyya sought to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic theocracy. As the organization grew, Abdel Rahman himself became an internationally known symbol of opposition to the Egyptian secular authorities. When Egypt severely cracked down on militant groups, Abdel Rahman fled in 1990 to live in exile in Brooklyn, New York.

According to U.S. officials, Abdel Rahman's U.S. terror cell planned to implement Islamic terrorism by attacking civilians, government officials, and landmarks. In 1990 a gunman shot and killed the Jewish extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York. El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian man linked to Abdel Rahman, was arrested and tried for the murder. Nosair was convicted of gun charges related to the murder but acquitted of the actual crime. According to press reports, when federal agents raided Nosair's New Jersey apartment after his arrest, they found many incriminating items, including an Abdel Rahman sermon that urged followers to attack “the edifices of capitalism.”

One interpretation of this phrase became immediately clear after the February 1993 bombing of [Page 3]the World Trade Center in New York City. The blast killed six people, injured a thousand more, and caused millions of dollars in damage. At least three of the suspects in the bombing worshipped at Abdel Rahman's mosque in Jersey City, New Jersey. In the trial following the bombing, Abdel Rahman was convicted of preparing what prosecutors called a “war of urban terrorism” in New York City. Under a rarely used Civil War–era seditious conspiracy law, prosecutors proved that the cleric had conspired to “overthrow or put down or destroy by force the Government of the United States.” The indictment tied together a three-year series of terrorist incidents, including a purported plan to blow up the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, the United Nations building, and other Manhattan landmarks. According to prosecutors, these bombs would have all hit their targets on the same day, just minutes apart. Abdel Rahman was also linked to the Kahane murder and convicted of trying to orchestrate the assassination of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. He was jailed for life.

Even in prison, Abdel Rahman has wielded considerable influence and inspired acts of terror, many of which have aimed at securing his release. Early in his prison term, according to the Los Angeles Times, he called upon his followers to “avenge” him. In 1997, Gama'a al Islamiyya did just that, making its most infamous attack. At a tourist site near the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, gunmen disguised as police officers opened fire into a crowd. Fifty-eight foreign tourists and four Egyptians were killed. When group members called to take responsibility for the attack, they said that they had only intended to take hostages in an attempt to secure Abdel Rahman's release. Witnesses, however, saw no attempt to take hostages.

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