| Abdul Rahman Yasin | |
|---|---|
Abdul Rahman Yasin in 2002 |
|
| Nickname | (Arabic: عبد الرحمن يس ) |
| Born | April 10, 1960 [1] - Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
Abdul Rahman Yasin (Arabic: عبد الرحمن يس ; born April 10, 1960) helped make the bombs used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing attack. Yasin is of Iraqi heritage and grew up in Baghdad. 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."[2]
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An American citizen of Iraqi immigrants, Yasin was born in Bloomington, Indiana, U.S., where his father came to study for a PhD. Shortly after his birth, Yasin's family moved back to Iraq. According to university records, Said Taha Yasin, an Iraqi, attended Indiana University in 1952-53, and also from 1956-60. Yasin's FBI report states that he is epileptic.[3]
On June 21, 1992 Yasin was able to use his American birth citizenship to obtain a US passport from the U.S. embassy in Amman, Jordan, and thus enter the United States.
Recruited by Ramzi Yousef, he had acid burns on his legs and jeans 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, in a sweep of sites associated with Salameh. Yasin was found in the apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, that he was sharing with his mother.[2]
Yasin was taken to New Jersey FBI headquarters in Newark, where he was reportedly very cool and cooperative. Agents had Yasin retrace where and how the WTC bomb had been built in New York and New Jersey.
Yasin said he was released after giving agents names and addresses, and went to Iraq.
On February 26, 1993, Yasin boarded Royal Jordanian flight 262 to Amman, Jordan. From Amman, Abdul Rahman Yasin went on to Baghdad.[4]
In Baghdad, Iraq, Yasin lived freely for at least a year. Saddam Hussein regime's gave money and housing to Yasin. The Iraqi government later claimed he was arrested and put in prison (see CBS Stahl interview, below).
On October 10, 2001 Yasin appeared on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush.
On several occasions, Iraq offered to turn Yasin over to the US government in exchange for lifting UN economic sanctions. Tariq Aziz, spokesman of Iraq, claimed that in the 1990s all Iraq wanted in return was a signed statement that Iraq had handed over Yasin. But reportedly the statement presented to the U.S. at the time contained lengthy wording essentially exonerating Iraqi involvement in the 1993 WTC attack. Nevertheless, Kenneth Pollack of the State Department stated that there was no CIA information tying Iraq into the 1993 WTC bombing.
With Yasin reportedly being held as a prisoner in Hussein's Iraq, Leslie Stahl of CBS interviewed him there for a segment on 60 Minutes on May 23, 2002 (see below). Yasin appeared in prison pajamas and handcuffs. It was claimed that Iraq had held Yasin prisoner on the outskirts of Baghdad since 1994.[2]
Yasin is believed to still be in Iraq but he hasn't been seen or heard from since the 2002 prison interview.