Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

THE DICTIONARY– A –ABC WARFARE AND/OR WEAPONS. Acronym for atomic,biological, and chemical weapons. See also WEAPONS OF MASSDESTRUCTION.ABDUL RAHMAN, SHEIKH OMAR (1938– ). Islamic fundamentalistcleric and leader of the Islamic Group, a militant group inEgypt. Abdul Rahman, along with the Munazzamat al Jihad defendants,was accused of assassinating President Anwar Sadat in 1981.Although Abdul Rahman, who is blind, was tried as an accessorydue to his issuing the takfir, or Islamic judicial decree, authorizingthe killing of Sadat, he was acquitted. After his release, Abdul Rahmanled a puritanical Islamic fundamentalist movement that aimedto topple the regime of Hosni Mubarak in order to create an Islamicstate. The Islamic Group has tried to accomplish this in part by attackson non-Muslim tourists in Egypt, particularly those visiting themonuments of pre-Islamic Egypt.Although banned from entering the United States as a personknown to be associated with terrorist groups and activities, AbdulRahman nonetheless obtained a tourist visa in Sudan and came toNew Jersey, where he became the prayer leader of a small mosquein Jersey City. Following the World Trade Center bombing in1993, he was implicated in that conspiracy and a broader conspiracyto bomb other public places in New York, including the Hollandand Lincoln tunnels and the United Nations building, as well as aplot to murder U.S. Senator Alfonse d’Amato (Republican, N.Y.)and United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. On24 June 1993, eight of Abdul Rahman’s followers were arrested inconnection with this plot. Government transcripts of conversations1