Free Republic

New light is being shed on the 2001 anthrax attacks in a fascinating open letter to Ayman al Zawahiri of al Qaeda, written by a jihadi living in London. Numan Bin Uthman, a former leader of an armed Islamic group in Libya, provides yet more evidence that the global Islamic jihad movement is losing its resolve.  But the letter contains a startling admission. Uthman tells us of a conversation he had with al Qaeda leaders before the 9/11 attacks in which he urged them not to use WMD. From AKI News: Uthman also said that he had taken part in...

Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Iran’s “continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion” and urged the release of an American Christian pastor imprisoned for his religious beliefs. In a written response to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to questions during his confirmation hearing last week obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Kerry, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, said he is “deeply concerned” about Saeed Abedini, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his Christian faith on Sunday. … Abedini, 32, who is from Boise, Idaho, has been jailed in Iran...

An American pastor who has been jailed in Iran since September has been sentenced to eight years in prison, the U.S. State Department said Sunday. Spokesman Darby Holladay said the department is calling on Iran to respect Saeed Abedini’s human rights and release him. Earlier this month, Iran’s semi-official news agency, ISNA, quoted Abedini’s attorney, Nasser Sarbazi, as saying his client stood trial in the Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes. The pastor, who is of Iranian origin but lives in Boise, Idaho, has rejected the...

When you arm Islamists, you become a willing participant in your own undoing. When Mohamed Morsi dehumanizes Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs,” there’s an elephant in the room. We find it here: Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil — these are many times worse in rank, and far more astray from the even Path! You see, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood mahoff–turned–president did not conjure up the apes-and-pigs riff on his own. When Morsi fulminates that Muslims “must not forget to...

<p>No place to hide: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, pictured today in London, said there was 'no justification for the kidnapping and murder of innocent people' in Algeria and warned militants there was 'no place to hide'</p> <p>Islamist militants have today offered to free two American hostages held captive at an Algerian gas field in exchange for the release of two renowned terrorists jailed in the United States.</p>

The al Qaeda group responsible for a raid on a natural gas field in eastern Algerian earlier this week has reportedly demanded the release of two well-known, al Qaeda-linked jihadists in exchange for American hostages. Citing Mauritania's ANI news agency, press reports indicate that the two jihadists are Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (a.k.a. the "Blind Sheikh") and Aafia Siddiqui (a.k.a. "Lady Al Qaeda"). Sheikh Rahman was the spiritual head of the two leading Egyptian jihadist groups, Gamaa Islamiyya (IG) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ). The latter group was headed by Ayman al Zawahiri, who merged his organization into al...

The terrorists who attacked the In Amenas gas complex in eastern Algeria appear to have been of several nationalities, and may have trained in jihadist camps across the border in southern Libya, according to sources familiar with the situation there. Algerian security sources told Reuters late Thursday that the militants whose bodies had been recovered from the complex so far included three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a French citizen. -snip- A U.S. official told CNN Wednesday that the hostage-takers appeared to have crossed the Libyan border -- some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the gas complex...

Now that Egypt's Mohamed Morsi has settled the constitutional issues facing his country, he can turn his attention to the truly pressing problems of the Arab Spring state. Would that be religious tolerance, economic growth, and the pursuit of peace in the region? Er ... not exactly. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night, Morsi urged Barack Obama to free Omar Abdel-Rahman, better known as the Blind Sheikh, currently serving a life sentence in a maximum-security federal prison in North Carolina for his involvement in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.Priorities, priorities:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Alabama Men Arrested on Terrorism Charges U.S. Attorney’s Office December 11, 2012 Southern District of Alabama MOBILE, AL—U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama and Stephen E. Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile Division of the FBI, announced that Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, 25, and Randy Wilson, also known as Rasheed Wilson, 25, both U.S. citizens living in Mobile, were arrested today on terrorism charges filed in the Southern District of Alabama. A criminal complaint signed on December 10, 2012, charges Abukhdair and Wilson with conspiring to...

A hard to read, hard to believe, hard to write about communique from South Florida Tea Party sources involves the alleged real reasons General David Petreaus “was forced out a few days before the Benghazi hearings.” Citing the stand down orders, the stupid video, and the pulled security, this memo makes a convincing case that a failed October Surprise kidnap event of the U.S. diplomat had a political backdrop involving the impending election. Various background data mentioned in this bulletin contain a tit for tat exchange of Mission Chief Chris Stevens for the Blind Sheik, Omar Abdel Rahman who was...

We all know CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or Fox wasn't going to do it. "Imam’s Terrorist Ties Exposed by Local News Station," from Judicial Watch, November 26 (thanks to Pamela Geller): While the Obama Justice Department tours the nation condemning unfounded discrimination against Muslims at their place of worship, a local Florida news station uncovers an imam’s ties to a blind sheik behind the first World Trade Center bombing in the early 90s. Not surprisingly, the administration’s campaign to combat mosque intolerance is being heavily promoted while the shocking imam terrorist story gets swept under the rug. We only know...

the Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, was behind the attack. We now know it was not initially an attack, but an attempted kidnapping of Ambassador Stevens to use him as a pawn to get their beloved Blind Sheik back. What is most shocking, however, is that a source within the White House states that it was arranged as an October surprise by Barack Obama. Obama, in order to make the release of the Blind Sheik more palatable to the American people, and to boost his sagging approval ratings, arranged with the Muslim Brotherhood to kidnap Ambassador Stevens. Then,...

Was the 'Video' Plan B? One of the most interesting aspects of the Benghazi tragedy is WHO originally came up with the idea of blaming a YouTube video trailer for the killing of four Americans? That 'person(s)' has never been named or explained. There is a theory bounding across the internet (call it a conspiracy theory if you will) that there may have been a 'deal' set up to 'kidnap' Ambassador Stevens and then 'trade' him for the blind sheik. In steps Hussein Obama, our brilliant foreign policy guru and resident muslim President to broker the 'deal' saving Ambassador Stevens...

Egypt’s al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya – or Islamic Group – is warning it could use violence as a means to ensure Sharia law is adopted in the latest draft of the country’s constitution and is calling on Egyptians to wage “jihad and fight in support of Sharia.” This call was made by Mohamed Salah, the leader of the group which the U.S. designates as a terrorist organization. Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya’s spiritual leader was the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman who is imprisoned in the U.S. for his role in blowing up the World Trade Center in New York in February 1993 and for plotting...

Are senior Obama administration officials considering transferring to Egypt a poisonously influential Islamist cleric serving a life term in federal prison for trying to unleash a war of urban terrorism in the United States? That's the impression several officials have given over the past three months, apparently out of fear that if the cleric dies in U.S. custody, American outposts in the Middle East could be overrun by vengeful mobs. Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, is one of the world's leading theologians of terrorism. Abdel Rahman, who has diabetes and is in his mid-70s, is confined at the...

Blind Sheik Terrorist Will Stay in U.S. Prison, White House Says Reports of a possible release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman called "completely and unequivocally false" By Jonathan Dienst | Tuesday, Sep 25, 2012 | Updated 3:38 PM EDT The blind sheik who supported the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terror plots that targeted New York landmarks will stay in a U.S. prison, Obama administration officials said Tuesday. "There is absolutely no plan to release or transfer the Blind Sheikh,” said National Security Staff spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "Reports saying otherwise are completely and unequivocally false." The strong denial...

FBI agents aren’t allowed to treat individuals associated with terrorist groups as potential threats to the nation, according to a startling, newly discovered FBI directive. The fact that a terrorism suspect is associated with a terrorist group means nothing, according to the FBI document, “Guiding Principles: Touchstone Document on Training.” The “touchstone” document, dated March of this year, is available online but hasn’t been reported on by major media outlets. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are to be instructed that “mere association with organizations that demonstrate both legitimate (advocacy) and illicit (violent extremism) objectives should not automatically result in a...

If they lie, you can’t trust them. That’s a fairly straightforward rule. It is certainly the one that trial lawyers bank on. It is not a hard and fast rule. A person may shade the truth for various reasons: vanity, personal allegiances, financial incentives, etc. Usually, once you figure out the relevant motivation, you can sort out on what matters he is probably credible and what he is prone to lie about. Sometimes, though, the story is so unbelievable, so insulting to the intelligence, that a rational juror knows it is best to discount all of the testimony — or,...

Egypt's new government is sparking growing outrage in the U.S. for its attempts to win the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. In Cairo, President-elect Mohamed Morsi proclaimed to hundreds of thousands of supporters in Tahir Square on Friday that he will gain the release of Rahman, who is in a federal prison in North Carolina after having been convicted of masterminding the bombing that killed six and unsuccessfully plotting to blow up other landmarks, including the United Nations. Although a U.S. official told FoxNews.com the sheik will...

In a strongly worded letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton, eight members of congress have demanded that a request to release Omar Abdel-Rahman from federal prison be rejected. Abdel-Rahman, known as the “blind sheikh,” inspired the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and is serving a life sentence for his role in a plot to conduct assassinations and destroy bridges, tunnels and other landmarks in New York City. It is believed that the unrest blanketing much of the Middle East last week was inspired at least in part by the demands that the Blind...

Keep up the good work, Rachel, even when it's not at all what you intended. In the wake of last week's deadly attack against the US consulate in Benghazi, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow helpfully provided Mitt Romney with plenty of damning information for use against President Obama in their upcoming debates. (Video clip after page break)Rachel Maddow Can't Bring Herself to Ask Why Security Was So Lax at US Consulate in BenghaziTurns out there were warning signs going back months that the situation in Benghazi was rapidly deteriorating and the Obama administration did little to protect Ambassador Chris Stevens and the...

I'm going to inch out onto the limb and predict that the Foreign Policy President will not, repeat not, be handing over this cretin before election day. The U.S. State Department is currently in negotiations with the Egyptian government for the transfer of custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” for humanitarian and health reasons, a source close to the the Obama administration told TheBlaze ...The negotiations are allegedly part of the ongoing discussions with the Egyptian government to resolve the crisis plaguing the Middle East, the source told TheBlaze. Calls to the State Department for comment...

The U.S. State Department is currently in negotiations with the Egyptian government for the transfer of custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” for humanitarian and health reasons, a source close to the the Obama administration told TheBlaze. Glenn Beck revealed the controversial news on his show Monday. The negotiations are allegedly part of the ongoing discussions with the Egyptian government to resolve the crisis plaguing the Middle East, the source told TheBlaze. Calls to the State Department for comment referred us to the Department of Justice, and nothing has been confirmed. The Blind Sheikh is serving...

Source: Obama Administration in Talks to Transfer ‘Blind Sheikh’ to Egypt Posted on September 17, 2012 at 5:31pm by Erica State Department in Talks to Transfer Blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to Egypt, Source Says An Egyptian follower of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman flashes his poster outside in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept.11, 2011. The U.S. State Department is currently in negotiations with the Egyptian government for the transfer of custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” for humanitarian and health reasons, a source close to the the Obama administration told TheBlaze.

July 18, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a previous article Muslim Outreach? Team Obama Moves To Release Convicted Al-Qaeda Financier Aldurahman M. Alamoudi From Prison we highlighted the Obama Administration's effort to free [or seriously reduce the long prison sentence of] this terrorist Muslim Brotherhood operative. [Note his first name has been variously spelled in official documents as, Abdur Rahman, Abdurahman, Abdulrahman and Aldurahman. We have settled on the convention of using Abdurahman, the phonetic spelling used on Alamoudi's checks during this period of time - see below.] Alamoudi is a convicted al-Qaeda linked terrorist, who...

The "Imprisoned Omar Abdel Rahman Brigades" wanted/wants the release of the Blind Sheik, Omar Abdel Rahman, who is imprisoned in North Carolina. The Brigades attacked the International Red Cross office in Benghazi in August, and two month earlier, June 2012, detonated a bomb outside the Benghazi Consulate office where Ambassador Stevens was murdered on September 11th. That bombing was in retaliation for the death-by-drone of al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Abu Yahya al Libi (read it here at CNN, dated June 6, 2011). There was damage to glass on the front of the Consulate, but no injuries. Leaflets left at the bombing site...

The Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, which claimed the June 6, 2012, bombing of the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, released a video of what it says is the attack. In a communiqué posted on jihadist forums on June 11, the group reported that its fighters planted an explosive in the wall of the consulate, the blasting of which injured a number of guards. It added that the attack came in response to the drone strike on al-Qaeda official Abu Yahya al-Libi in North Waziristan, and also in response to American drones flying in Libyan skies.

Islamic forces have called for a million-man demonstration on Friday [September 14] in protest of a film that insults the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. A number of Coptic Egyptian immigrants in the United States took part in the production of the amateur Youtube video. About this Article Summary: Egyptian Islamist leaders have called for a million-man march against an obscure American YouTube video which insults the Prophet Muhammad. Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that the protesters, who later attacked the American embassy in Cairo, and their leaders have called for the withdrawal of diplomatic recognition of the United States. Publisher:...

NEW YORK -- Authorities believe a U.S. postal employee in custody here helped draft a letter of introduction that may have been used by two men who posed as journalists to assassinate a leading opposition figure in Afghanistan last fall, according to a U.S. official familiar with the case.Click here for full Washington Post article

Kemal Helbawi (aka Helbawy), former spokesman of Muslim Brotherhood in the West, recently gave an address calling for the U.S. to be “brought to its knees” and calling for the release of Omar Abd Al-Rahman (the Blind Sheik), convicted in the U.S. for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. According to a MEMRI translation: Following are excerpts from an address by Kamal Helbawy, former spokesman of Muslim Brotherhood in the West. The address was delivered at a rally, organized by the right-wing secular Al-Wafd Party, calling for the release of Omar Abd Al-Rahman (the Blind Sheik), who...

The son of Omar Abdel Rahman, a Jama’a al-Islamiya leader known as the “Blind Sheikh” who was convicted of terrorism charges in the US in 1995, threatened to organize a protest at the US Embassy in Cairo and detain the employees inside. Abdallah Abdel Rahman’s threat came during a press conference organized by the sheikh’s family near the highly fortified American embassy compound on Thursday evening. Abdel Rahman demanded that President Mohamed Morsy intervene for the release of his father as he did in the case of Egyptian journalist Shaimaa Adel who was detained for nearly two weeks for covering...

SANTA ANA — An Orange County woman said in an expose that aired last night that her ex-husband is a Muslim extremist who helped set up an al Qaeda sleeper cell in their Anaheim apartment complex in the 1990s. Saraah Olson told ABC-TV's "Primetime Live" that her ex-husband, Hisham Diab, beat her, turned a local teenager into a terrorist fanatic, and brought other terrorists into their home. Authorities say the couple's former neighbor, Khalil Deek, is considered a major al Qaeda figure, and is believed to have run the Orange County cell -- one of the first al Qaeda sleeper...

CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's president-elect Mohammed Morsi has vowed to free the blind sheik jailed in the U.S. for a plot to blow up New York City landmarks.

Terrorists aren’t supposed to get visas. But Hani Nour Eldin was apparently invited to D.C. this week to meet with top officials. Did no one Google him? It was supposed to be a routine meeting for Egyptian legislators in Washington, an opportunity for senior Obama administration officials to meet with new members of Egypt’s parliament and exchange ideas on the future of relations between the two countries. Instead, the visit this week looks like it’s turning into a political fiasco. Included in the delegation of Egyptian lawmakers was Hani Nour Eldin, who, in addition to being a newly elected member...

(title continued) Americans held in Egypt Shocking. This would be the nadir of Obama's craven foreign policy of surrender, releasing the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than a thousand. Treason. Al-Arabiya: US in talks to swap jihad terror Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman & 49 others for 19 Americans held in Egypt thanks to Robert Spencer

The Arabic-language newspaper al-Arabiya reported on Tuesday that the Obama administration has offered to release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to Egypt. Abdel Rahman is the infamous “Blind Sheikh� who was convicted in 1995 for masterminding a terrorist war against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. According to the late Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s founder, Abdel Rahman is also responsible for the fatwa — the necessary Islamic edict — that green-lighted the 9/11 attacks.The alleged offer to release Abdel Rahman is said to be an effort...

CAIRO (AP) -- A U.S. drone strike killed a son of Egyptian-born Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in Afghanistan, a radical Islamist group said. Egypt's Gamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, had posted on its website on Saturday a notice mourning the death of Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the son of the "Blind Sheik" now serving a life sentence in the U.S. for his involvement in a plot to blow up New York city landmarks. Abdel Rahman was the spiritual leader of the Gamaa, as well as of the men convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

I never give time frames, because you never know where you'll have sufficient evidence to go public with a prosecution, " Mueller said.

Dozens protested Thursday in front of the US Embassy in Cairo, calling for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, leader of the Islamist group Jama'a al-Islamiya, who is detained in the US on allegations of inciting terrorism. Abdel Rahman's son Abdullah said his father's release is first a human request and second a popular one. he also added that the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar called on US President Barack Obama to release Rahman.

Jama'a al-Islamiya leader Omar Abdel Rahman, who is being held in a prison in North Carolina, US, in a 15-minute telephone conversation with his wife Aisha said “the Egyptian revolution achieved the impossible.” His son Mohamed said an officer from the prison called Abdel Rahman’s home on the landline first to make sure that his wife was there, and that her voice matched the registered "voiceprint." He added that a recorded message from the prison’s phone said the line would be cut immediately if any person other than Aisha talked on the phone. He also said that his father was...

Islamofascism: Ground Zero mosque promoters think they've found a less radioactive frontman for their project. But their new imam appears worse than the one they're sidelining. Replacing imam Feisal Rauf as the new face of "moderation," "peace" and "interfaith tolerance" is Shaykh Abdallah Adhami, an imam who also happens to be an architect.

WASHINGTON -- The health of terrorist cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, is deteriorating _ renewing fears that his death in prison could trigger an attack on the United States, officials said Thursday. There is no credible indication that an attack on the U.S. is imminent, said several law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation. In a two-page bulletin, dated Dec. 8, the FBI reported to federal intelligence officials that Rahman was rushed from prison to a Missouri hospital two days earlier for a blood transfusion. There, doctors discovered...

At a Thanksgiving dinner party one of the guests surprised me with the vehemence of his objection to recent Congressional action which authorized military commissions for the trying of certain Islamic terrorists. It surprised me because he was quite conservative in some of the other views he expressed that day. His complaint was that this authorization endangered his constitutional rights in general and that these powers would be abused. Like so many other people who are not really paying attention, my dinner companion is not aware of several important points:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has extended for two more years the imprisonment of a terror suspect linked to al-Qaeda's attempts to produce chemical and biological weapons, saying he has more information about terrorist operations. Yazid Sufaat, a U.S.-trained biochemist and former Malaysian army captain, was arrested in late 2001 as he returned home from Afghanistan, where officials say he was working on a biological and chemical weapons program for al-Qaeda that was ended by the U.S.-led war. Since then, he has been held without trial under Malaysia's Internal Security Act on accusations of being a member of Jemaah...

RIVERSIDE'S TERROR RALLY By CHARLES E.F. MILLARD October 18, 2006 -- In the uproar over Monday's outrageously soft sentence for terror-aiding lawyer Lynne Stewart, Riverside Church seems to be distancing itself from the despicable rally it hosted in her support Sunday. Stewart was convicted by a jury of her peers. The uncontested facts were that she had smuggled messages from convicted terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman ("the blind sheik") to his followers in the Islamic world. Those messages directed his followers in the terror group Gama'a Islamiyya to end their cease-fire with the Egyptian government and begin killing Rahman's enemies. Rahman,...

Imam Fawaz Damra helped lay the groundwork for an organization that ultimately merged into al-Qaida in the late 1980s. He was an unindicted co-conspirator of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. And he passionately raised money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which killed dozens of Jews in Israel during the 1990s. Yet Damra, spiritual leader to thousands of Muslims in Northeast Ohio, seemed to fly comfortably beneath the radar of U.S. terror investigators - until Tuesday. FBI agents swooped in on the Palestinian cleric at his Strongsville home, arresting him on a relatively minor - and...

Attorney Lynne F. Stewart is a progressive icon. A protege of Ramsey Clark and the late William Kunstler and a member of the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, Stewart embodies the committed professionalism of the radical "legal left." Under this code, attorneys select clients whom they regard as the put-upon victims of an oppressive system or the persecuted champions of a just cause. Stewart represented Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric convicted in 1995 of masterminding the first World Trade Center bombing. She is now on trial as a terrorist herself for aiding and abetting...