‘Blind sheikh’ convicted in 1993 World Trade Center bombing mourned by thousands in Egypt

Thousands of Egyptians attended to funeral of convicted terrorist Omar Abdel-Rahman on Wednesday while chanting “We will meet in heaven!”

The body of “the blind sheik” received a hero’s sendoff in Gamalia on Wednesday, despite being found guilty in October 1995 of 48 of 50 charges relating to a plot to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a New York state legislator and a New York State Supreme Court justice. The 78-year-old died in a North Carolina federal prison on Feb. 18.

Chants of “We will meet in heaven!” and “We will defend you with blood and soul, Islam!” and “God is great!” rang out prior to the arrival of the body, Reuters reported Wednesday. The event included many who traveled over 100 miles from Cairo to pay their respects.

“If he were a bad man, people from all over the country wouldn’t have came to attend his funeral,” said lawyer Mostafa al-Wakeel. “We grew up learning his books and tapes. He was among the first people who openly spoke against a tyrant.”

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University in Washington, told Reuters after the cleric’s death that he was at “the vortex of some of the bloodiest and most consequential terrorist incidents of the 1990s — incidents that would establish the patterns of global terrorism that continue to bedevil us today.”

Mr. Hoffman’s analysis was soon vindicated by an al Qaeda call for revenge against the U.S. for Abdel-Rahman’s imprisonment.

“Don’t let the Americans enjoy safety and security,” the statement said, Reuters reported. “Kill them, keep a watch on them and plant the fear in their hearts. Seek vengeance for your sheikh.”