Omar Abdel Rahman (The Blind Sheikh)

8 months ago
14

Omar Abdel-Rahman was the leader of Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya an Egyptian militant Islamist movement in Egypt which tried to help force the overthrow of the Anwar Sadat led government in a coup that involved in Sadat's assassination in 1981. Rahman was subsequently arrested for his alleged involvement, and was released and expelled from the country after charges against him were dropped but not before labelling him as a terrorist. between 1986-1990, Rahman applied for a US visa 7 times at the us embassies in Khartoum and Cairo. In 1990 he was approved by a US consular officer, who was later found out to be a CIA officer posing as a us consular official. He would soon find himself invited by Al Farouq imam, Mustafa Shalabi, to come and preach there from time to time. His sermons were filled with "vitriolic rants" against the United States and members of the mosque soon began leaving, with only the fervent believers of Rahman's ideology staying behind.

Soon Rahman would begin advocating for attacks inside the United States which involved members of the Al Farouq and Masjid al-Salam in Jersey City to conduct in two terrorist operations, the 1993 WTC Bombing and the 1993 NYC Landmarks Bombing Plot. Rahman would be found guilty on 8 charges, in which he was sentenced to serve life imprisonment.

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