Eyad Ismoil ( ar, اياد اسماعيل) (born circa 1971) is a

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

ian citizen who, for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was convicted by the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a United States district court, federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York (state), New York ...

of conspiracy in 1997.

Early life

Born in

, Ismoil attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Jordan. He entered the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1989 on a student visa to study engineering at Wichita State University, where he enrolled at the Intensive English Language Center to study English as a second language. Ismoil overstayed his visa and moved to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In December 1992, he was contacted by

Ramzi Ahmed 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 Airline ...

, with whom he re-located to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on February 22, 1993 to begin preparing for the attack.

World Trade Center bombing

On February 26, 1993, Ismoil, accompanied by Yousef, drove a van packed with explosives into the parking garage below the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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 * '' ...

. The van exploded at 12:17 p.m., killing six people, causing numerous injuries, and inflicting an estimated five hundred million dollars' worth of damage to the WTC. Ismail fled the United States that night, as did Yousef, on a separate flight. In August 1995, Ismoil was captured by Jordanian authorities in

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

and extradited to the

to stand trial in New York for his role in the bombing. According to Ismoil's attorney, Louis Aidala, Ismoil was tricked into cooperating with the others, and had in fact loaded the explosives into the van, thinking they were cleaning supplies. However, prosecutor David Kelly noted the fingerprints of both men which had been found in a

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.automatic teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...

surveillance videos linking both Ismoil and Yousef to the purchase of chemicals used to create explosives. On November 12, 1997, Ismoil, Yousef, and several other co-defendants were found guilty of conspiracy. On April 3, 1998, Ismoil was sentenced to 240 years in prison, fined $250,000, and ordered to pay $10,000,000 in restitution. Throughout the trial, Ismoil continued to maintain his innocence, saying:

"Jail me and you will add one number to the wrong list. But don't think that you will ever rest because tyrants always end up in trouble."

Notes

External links

Full text of ''United States v. Salameh, et al.''
(33.6 MB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ismoil, Eyad 1971 births Jordanian emigrants to the United States Jordanian people imprisoned abroad Living people Inmates of ADX Florence Islamic terrorism in New York (state) Jordanian mass murderers People imprisoned on charges of terrorism People extradited from Jordan People extradited to the United States