Page 325 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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arrested and tried for the murder. Nosair was
RAF. See GERMAN RED ARMY FACTION. 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 apart-

RAHMAN, OMAR ABDEL (1939– ) ment after his arrest, they found many incriminating
items, including a Rahman sermon that urged his
followers to attack “the edifices of capitalism.”
Blind cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, said to be A likely interpretation of this phrase became
an icon of Islamic terrorists, is serving a life sentence immediately clear after the February 1993 bombing of
in the United States for inciting and masterminding the World Trade Center in New York City. The blast
the terror ring that carried out the 1993 bombing killed six people, injured a thousand more, and caused
of the World Trade Center in New York City. millions of dollars in damage. At least three of the
Investigators in the bombing case charged that suspects in the bombing worshipped at Rahman’s
Rahman preached anti-Western sermons, calling the mosque in Jersey City, New Jersey. In the trial follow-
United States “the greatest enemy of Islam,” that ing the bombing, Rahman was convicted of preparing
incited his followers and offered guidance as the what prosecutors called a “war of urban terrorism” in
bombers chose their targets. U.S. officials have said New York City. Under the rarely used Civil War-era
that Rahman is continuing to plot and inspire acts of seditious conspiracy law, prosecutors proved that the
terror while behind bars. cleric had conspired “to overthrow, or put down, or
Born in Egypt, Rahman was the spiritual leader of destroy by force the Government of the United States.”
the Gama’a al-Islamiyya, Egypt’s largest terrorist The indictment tied together a three-year series of
organization. The Gama’a seeks to overthrow the terrorist incidents, including a purported plan to blow
Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic up the George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln and
theocracy. As Gama’a grew, Rahman himself became Holland Tunnels, the United Nations building, and
an internationally known symbol of opposition to the other Manhattan landmarks. The landmarks bombs,
Egyptian secular authorities. When Egypt severely according to prosecutors, would have hit the targets all
cracked down on militant groups, Rahman fled in on one day, just minutes apart. Rahman was also
1990 to live in exile in Brooklyn, New York. linked to the Kahane murder and convicted of trying to
According to U.S. officials, Rahman’s U.S. terror orchestrate the assassination of Egyptian president
cell was active since at least the early 1990s. The Hosni Mubarak. He was jailed for life.
group allegedly planned to implement Islamic terror- Even in prison, Rahman is said to wield a consider-
ism by attacking civilians, government officials, and able influence, inspiring acts of terror, many of which
landmarks. In 1990, a gunman shot and killed Jewish have aimed to secure his release. Early during his time
extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York. El Sayyid in prison, the Los Angeles Times reports, he called upon
Nosair, an Egyptian man linked to Rahman, was his followers to “avenge” him. In 1997, the Gama’a did

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