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Abdul Rahman Yasin ( ar, عبد الرحمن يس ; born April 10, 1960) is an Iraqi-American terrorist and
fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
who took part in the
1993 World Trade Center Bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
terrorist attack. Yasin is presumed to have helped make the bombs and explosives. He has been characterized in the American media as "the only participant in the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993 who was never caught." Yasin's whereabouts remain unknown.


Personal Information


Early life and education

Yasin was born in
Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...
, where his father, originally from
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, went to study for a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...
. Yasin is therefore an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
. Shortly after his birth, Yasin's family moved back to Iraq. Yasin's FBI report states that he is epileptic.


Arrival in United States, 1992

In 1992, Yasin was able to use his American birth citizenship to obtain a US passport and thus enter the United States. Recruited by
Ramzi Yousef Ramzi Ahmed Yousef ( ur, , translit=''Ramzī Ahmad Yūsuf''; born 20 May 1967 or 27 April 1968) is a Pakistani convicted terrorist who was one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines ...
, he had acid burns on his legs from bomb chemicals. Soon following investigation of the attack on February 26, 1993, Yasin was picked up by the FBI on March 4, 1993, the same day as the arrest of
Mohammed A. Salameh Mohammed A. Salameh ( ar, محمد سلامة) (born September 1, 1967 in the West Bank) is a convicted terrorist and perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He is currently serving an unknown sentence as an inmate at FCI Terre Haute ...
, in a sweep of sites associated with Salameh. Yasin was found in the apartment in
Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
FBI headquarters in Newark, where he was reportedly very cooperative. Agents had Yasin retrace where and how the WTC bomb had been built in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
and New Jersey. Yasin said he was released after giving agents names and addresses, and went to Iraq.


Return to Iraq and Imprisonment, 1993

In March 1993, Yasin boarded
Royal Jordanian Royal Jordanian Airlines ( ar, ; transliterated: ''Al-Malakiyyah al-'Urduniyyah''), formerly known as Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Jordan with its head office in the capital, Amman. The airline operates schedu ...
flight 262 to Amman, Jordan. From Amman, Abdul Rahman Yasin went on to Baghdad.Katz, Samuel M. "Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists", 2002 November 1997 marked the month when two others were convicted in a court for their contributions to the bombing, but only "one other man believed to be directly involved in the attack, Iraqi Abdul Rahman Yasin, remained at large." In 1994, the Iraqi authorities arrested and imprisoned Yasin, and sent an emissary to the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
to inform them that they had crucial information about a perpetrator of the World Trade Center attack and were prepared to cooperate. The State Department did not respond to the offer. In spite of the fact that the U.S. government had been informed of Yasin's whereabouts, on October 10, 2001, Yasin's name appeared at the top of the list of the FBI's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President George W. Bush with a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. In 2002, following the
September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, Iraq attempted to hand Yasin over to the US government and began negotiating extradition protocols with the Americans via
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. However, negotiations hit a snag when US intelligence refused to provide Iraq with a receipt citing unfair demands—an official statement acknowledging Yassin had been handed over. On May 23, 2002, the Iraqis gave
Lesley Stahl Lesley Rene Stahl (born December 16, 1941) is an American television journalist. She has spent most of her career with CBS News, where she began as a producer in 1971. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS's ''60 Minutes''. She is known for her ne ...
of
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...
access to an Iraqi prison to interview Yasin for a segment on
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...
where Yasin appeared in prison pajamas and handcuffs. The Iraqis stated they had held Yasin prisoner on the outskirts of Baghdad since 1994. Yasin has not been seen or heard from since the 2002 prison interview. After the invasion, large numbers of Iraqi government documents were retrieved by U.S. intelligence. An anonymous US intelligence official claimed to USA Today that "some of the analysts concluded that the documents show that Saddam's government provided monthly payments and a home for Yasin." However, intelligence and law enforcement officials disagreed on its conclusiveness.


Al-Qaeda sanctions listing

Despite the fact that a direct
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
role in the 1993 WTC attack was never established, Abdul Rahman Yasin was listed on 17 October 2001 as being associated with the organization known as al-Qaida, the individual named
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
and the organization known as the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
, for his participation:
"in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf, or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to” or “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” al-Qaeda (QDe.004), Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasin, Abdul Rahman 1960 births Living people American mass murderers American people of Iraqi descent People with epilepsy People from Baghdad FBI Most Wanted Terrorists