On Egyptian President-elect’s Vow to Work for Blind Sheikh’s Release

[Valin]

NRO/The Corner:

 

Andrew C. McCarthy

6/30/12

 

The New York Times has a report this morning about the pledge by Egypt’s newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, to work for the release from U.S. prison and repatriation to Egypt of Omar Abdel Rahman, better known to Americans as “the Blind Sheikh.” The report can be read here.

 

Because I was the lead prosecutor at the Blind Sheikh’s 1995 terrorism trial, the Times asked me for information about the case and to make a statement about Mr. Morsi’s vow to seek Abdel Rahman’s release. Here is some background information — much of which I provided to the Times yesterday, have provided to the Times in various interviews over the years, and have written about extensively, particularly at National Review and in my book about the case, *Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad.

 

(Snip)

 

Following the trial at which he and several of his fellow jihadists were convicted, Abdel Rahman issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Americans, civilian and military, wherever they could be found, and to conduct terrorist attacks against our military assets, embassies, and civilian infrastructure. Following the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden publicly credited this fatwa as the sharia justification required under jihadist protocols to carry out the operation.

 

(Snip)

 

* Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad.