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Terrorist's poor health raises fears of attack

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - The health of terrorist cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the Blind Sheik, is deteriorating - renewing fears that his death in prison could trigger an attack on the United States, officials said Thursday.

However, there is no credible indication that an attack on the United States is imminent, the Associated Press reported, citing unnamed law enforcement officials.

In a two-page bulletin, dated Dec. 8, the FBI reported to federal intelligence officials that Abdel-Rahman had been taken to a Missouri hospital two days earlier for a blood transfusion. There, doctors reportedly discovered a tumor on his liver.

U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Tracy Billingsley said Abdel-Rahman's condition had stabilized, and he has been moved back to prison. "His condition has improved," she said.

Officials said the bulletin served merely as a reminder that Abdel-Rahman had called for retaliation by terror sympathizers if he died in prison. It cited a May 1998 news conference in which al-Qaida members distributed his last will and testament, in which Abdel-Rahman pleaded for followers to "extract the most violent revenge" should he die in U.S. custody.

The FBI had no comment on Thursday.

In a video in September marking the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaida's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahri, cited the continuing imprisonment of the sheik.

"I call on every Muslim to make use of every opportunity afforded him to take revenge on America for its imprisonment of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman," he said.

Abdel-Rahman was sentenced to life in prison after his 1995 conviction for his advisory role in a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations.

[Last modified December 15, 2006, 01:11:03]