WTC Mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman Dies In Federal Prison

The blind firebrand Islamist cleric who masterminded the World Trade Center bombings in 1993 died Saturday in federal prison after being behind bars for over two decades. He was 78.

The Egyptian radical Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman died at about 5:40 a.m. of natural causes battling long with diabetes and coronary artery disease at the Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina.

A United States representative is learned to have made a phone call to his son Ammar conveying the death news.

Known as The Blind Sheikh, Abdel-Rahman was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 1995 for plotting terror attacks across New York Cit.

At the age of just 10-month he lost his eyesight. At age 11 he is said to have memorized Braille version of Islamic book Quran.

He studied in Cargo University’s School of Theology and from Al-Azhar University in Cairo he earned a doctorate degree.

He went to Afghanistan in mid-1980s and had built a strong rapport with former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who once credited him as inspiration and justification for the WTC attacks.

After his arrest and conviction his supporters demonstrated throughout Cairo for his freedom.