Jama’a Islamiyah founder dead at nearly 80 in US prison cell

Jama’a Islamiyah founder and mastermind behind 1993 attack on World Trade Center dead at nearly 80: The death of “blind sheikh” Omar Abdel Rahman at nearly 80 years old in his North Carolina prison cell on Saturday received wide coverage from the international press, as Abdel Rahman, effectively the Osama Bin Laden of his time, was the founder of the Jama’a Islamiyah in Egypt and the mastermind behind several attacks on New York City in the 1990s, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The cleric, who remained “a spiritual leader for radical Muslims even after more than 20 years in prison,” Reuters says, reportedly died of “natural causes” but had suffered from diabetes and heart disease. The Associated Press, USA Today, The Washington Post, and BBC all have the story.