Page 282 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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cord from a quarry in Marion, Kansas, on October 1, the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center
1994. Fingerprint evidence found on a receipt in in New York City; six people were killed and 1,000
Nichols’s wallet confirmed that Nichols and McVeigh more injured. Nosair has also been found guilty of the
were together on April 13, 1995. Other circumstantial 1990 murder of militant Zionist Rabbi Meir Kahane.
evidence connected Nichols to the robbery of a gun Like his spiritual leader Omar Abdel Rahman,
collector in Arkansas, which the prosecution claimed Nosair was not actually charged with the 1993 blast;
was to fund the bombing conspiracy; the prosecution he was instead convicted on racketeering charges—
also suggested that Nichols drove McVeigh from tried for carrying out a “holy war” against the United
Junction City, Kansas, to Oklahoma City on April 16, States. Prosecutors claimed that the 1993 bombing
1995, to drop off the getaway car. Nichols’s wife, and the earlier assassination of Kahane were two acts
Marife Nichols, could not testify to his whereabouts on in the larger conspiracy.
April 18; his former wife, Lana Padilla, testified that Born in Egypt, Nosair immigrated to the United
Nichols had left a package with her, to be opened in the States and found a job as a maintenance worker in
event of his death while away in the Philippines. In this Jersey City, New Jersey. He attended the Jersey City
package, she found a letter written to McVeigh in mosque of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, spiritual
which Nichols urged McVeigh, “Go for it!” leader of the Egyptian Islamic militant group Gama’a
On December 24, 1997, the federal jury found al-Islamiyya.
Nichols guilty on one count of conspiracy and eight According to prosecutors, on November 5, 1990,
counts involuntary manslaughter. Unlike McVeigh, Nosair attended a speech given by Kahane in the
he was spared the sentence of death by a deadlocked Marriott Hotel ballroom. As Kahane finished his
jury. On June 4, 1998, U.S. District judge Richard speech, Nosair shot him and dashed from the hotel,
P. Matsch sentenced Nichols to life in prison without firing all the while. He ran into the street and shot an
possibility of parole, as well as to 48 years for the older man and a postal police officer. The officer fired
deaths of eight federal employees. back, hitting Nosair in the neck. Soon arrested, Nosair
Over the next several years, Nichols lost a series of denied involvement in the killing. According to press
appeals, including efforts to block an impending trial reports, after Nosair’s arrest federal agents raided
for state charges, which include 160 counts of first- his apartment and found many incriminating items,
degree murder for which Nichols could still receive including a Rahman sermon that urged his followers
the death penalty. to attack “the edifices of capitalism.”
At his first trial, Nosair was acquitted of state mur-
See also TIMOTHY MCVEIGH; OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
der charges but convicted of related gun-possession
Further Reading and assault charges; he was sentenced to seven years
in Attica Prison for the related gun offense. While in
Michel, Lou, and Dan Herbeck. American Terrorist: Attica, according to prosecutors, Nosair encouraged
Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. visitors to continue with the holy war against the
New York: Regan Books, 2001.
Nichols, James D., and Robert S. Papovich. Freedom’s End: United States, and even called on his supporters to
The Oklahoma Conspiracy. Decker, MI: Freedom’s End, assassinate the judge who sent him to prison.
1997. After the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,
Sherrow, Victoria. The Oklahoma City Bombing: Terror in investigators found that many of the major suspects in
the Heartland. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 1998. the case had closely watched Nosair’s trial and con-
tributed money for his defense. Prosecutors carefully
constructed a huge terrorism and conspiracy case
NIDAL, ABU. See AL-BANNA, SABRI. involving Rahman, Nosair, and other supporters. The
indictment tied together a three-year string of terrorist
incidents, including an alleged plot to blow up the
NOSAIR, EL SAYYID (1956– ) George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and Holland
Tunnels, the United Nations building, and other
Manhattan landmarks.
El Sayyid Nosair is serving a life sentence in prison In the larger conspiracy trial, prosecutors brought up
for participating in a conspiracy that involved, in part, Nosair’s involvement in Kahane’s murder, maintaining