BUTNER, NC. – Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian-born cleric serving a life sentence for plotting the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and other terror attacks in New York, has died, a prison spokesman said Saturday.

Abdel-Rahman died Saturday morning from natural causes at age 78, said Greg Norton, spokesman with the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina. He had battled diabetes and coronary heart disease, Norton said.

The February 1993 attack on the Manhattan landmark left six people dead and injured more than 1,000 others. Abdel-Rahman was linked to the attack after other suspects were found to have frequented the New Jersey mosque where he preached.

The bombing would presage the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center eight years later.

Rahman denied involvement in the earlier attack in which a bomb exploded in a parking garage under 2 World Trade Center.

In August 1993, he was indicted for involvement in a broader terrorist plot that included the World Trade Center bombing.

He was convicted in October 1995 of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. </s> Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian-born cleric serving a life sentence for plotting the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and other terror attacks in New York, has died, a prison spokesman said Saturday.

Abdel-Rahman died Saturday morning from natural causes at age 78, said Greg Norton, spokesman with the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina. He had battled diabetes and coronary heart disease, Norton said.

Abdel-Rahman was convicted in 1995 of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.

Developing story - more to come </s> Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian-born cleric serving a life sentence for plotting the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and other terror attacks in New York, has died, a prison spokesman said Saturday.

Abdel-Rahman died Saturday morning from natural causes at age 78, said Greg Norton, spokesman with the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina. He had battled diabetes and coronary heart disease, Norton said.

The February 1993 attack on the Manhattan landmark left six people dead and injured more than 1,000 others. Abdel-Rahman was linked to the attack after other suspects were found to have frequented the New Jersey mosque where he preached.

The bombing would presage the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center eight years later.

Rahman denied involvement in the earlier attack in which a bomb exploded in a parking garage under 2 World Trade Center.

In August 1993, he was indicted for involvement in a broader terrorist plot that included the World Trade Center bombing.

He was convicted in October 1995 of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.

Before he was sentenced the following year, Abdel-Rahman delivered a long, ardent speech in Arabic.

“This case is nothing but an extension of the American war against Islam,” he told the judge through an interpreter.

Nine co-conspirators also were sentenced in the case, which centered on a scheme to bomb the United Nations, FBI headquarters in Manhattan, two tunnels in New York and a bridge connecting New Jersey with Manhattan — all in one day.

Abdel-Rahman also was convicted in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

During a nine-month trial, his defense attorney argued the cleric was a spiritual leader being prosecuted for his speech. </s> Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the radical muslim cleric with ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, died at 5:40 a.m., Saturday, at a federal prison complex in Butner, North Carolina.

According to Kenneth McKoy, the facility's acting executive assistant, Abdel-Rahman was 78 years old and died after a long struggle with coronary artery disease and diabetes.

Born in Egypt, Abdel-Rahman, also known as "the blind sheik," came to the U.S. in the early 1990s. Preaching in New York and New Jersey, he spread his radical vision of Islam, decried U.S. support for Israel, and built a network of devoted followers.

While Abdel-Rahman was never convicted of playing a direct role in the February 1993 truck bombing of the Trade Center that killed six people and injured more than 1,000, he had connections to those who did and, when he was arrested, had been actively plotting a wave of terrorist attacks against New York City targets.

In 1995, Abdel-Rahman and nine of his followers were convicted of conspiring to wage "a war of urban terrorism against the United States," according to the indictment, planning attacks on New York landmarks, including the George Washington Bridge, United Nations' headquarters and the Lincoln Tunnel. </s> Story highlights Cleric told a judge in 1996 his case was part of "the American war against Islam"

He was also convicted in plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

(CNN) Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian-born cleric serving a life sentence for plotting the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center and other terror attacks in New York, has died, a prison spokesman said Saturday.

Abdel-Rahman died Saturday morning from natural causes at age 78, said Greg Norton, spokesman with the federal correctional complex in Butner, North Carolina. He had battled diabetes and coronary heart disease, Norton said.

The February 1993 attack on the Manhattan landmark left six people dead and injured more than 1,000 others. Abdel-Rahman was linked to the attack after other suspects were found to have frequented the New Jersey mosque where he preached.

Rahman denied involvement in the earlier attack in which a bomb exploded in a parking garage under 2 World Trade Center.

Read More </s> BUTNER, N.C. (AP) — Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik convicted of plotting terror attacks in the United States in the 1990s, has died. He was 78.

Kenneth McKoy of the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, said Rahman died at 5:40 a.m. after suffering from diabetes and coronary artery disease. Abdul-Rahman had been at the complex for seven years.

Rahman was a key spiritual leader for a generation of Islamic militants and became a symbol for radicals during a decade in American prisons.

Abdel-Rahman, blind since infancy from diabetes, was the leader of one of Egypt’s most feared militant groups, the Gamaa Islamiya, which led a campaign of violence aimed at bringing down ex-President Hosni Mubarak.

Abdel-Rahman fled Egypt to the U.S. in 1990 and began teaching in a New Jersey mosque. A circle of his followers were convicted in the Feb. 26, 1993 truck bombing of New York’s World Trade Center that killed six people — eight years before al-Qaida’s suicide plane hijackers brought the towers down.

Later in 1993, Abdel-Rahman was arrested for conspiracy to carry out a string of bombings against the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge and other New York landmarks. </s> Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted of the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993, has died in prison in the United States, his son Ammar told Reuters on Saturday.

Ammar said his family had received a phone call from a US representative saying his father had died.

Abdel-Rahman, commonly known in the United States as "The Blind Sheikh", was a former leader of the Egyptian Islamist militant group al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya.

Besides the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre, he was alleged to have planned to blow up other prominent New York buildings, including the UN headquarters. </s> WASHINGTON, D.C.: Blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian-born cleric linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, died Saturday of natural causes in a US prison facility, the Justice Department said. He was 78 years old.

Abdel Rahman was serving a life sentence on several terrorism-related charges at a Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. His death came after a long battle with diabetes and coronary artery disease, the Bureau of Prisons said.

The sheikh was seen as a jihadist spiritual leader even after his conviction in 1995 for conspiring to bomb New York landmarks, including the United Nations, and assassinate the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Abdel Rahman, who sported a long, gray beard and signature sunglasses, led the militant Gamaa Islamiya group in Egypt before emigrating to the United States.

He preached a radical brand of Islam and was seen as having inspired the 1993 bombing of New York’s World Trade Center, which left six people dead and wounded around 1,000.

His son Mohamed Omar was informed of the death and told AFP the family had contacted the US and Egyptian authorities to repatriate the late cleric’s body.

Abdel Rahman had been imprisoned in North Carolina since 2007. He was hospitalized in late 2006 in the state of Missouri after he began to spit blood and was given a blood transfusion. </s> The mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing has died in the federal prison in Butner, officials said.
Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, dies in his federal prison cell in Butner, North Carolina.