Four Muslim fundamentalists were convicted on March 4 on charges arising from the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on Feb. 26, 1993.
Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online
Read the article and then do an activity
After deliberating for five days, the federal jury found the defendants guilty on all counts, including conspiracy, explosives offences, and assault. Due to be sentenced on May 4, the four men faced maximum sentences of life in prison without parole.
In the trial, which had lasted five months, 207 prosecution witnesses and four defence witnesses were called and there were more than 1,000 exhibits, although much of the evidence presented was circumstantial. The four men convicted, Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abohalima, and Mohammed Ahmad Ajaj, were among seven men charged in connection with the bombing. A fifth, Bilai Alkaisi, was still awaiting trial, while two others, Ramzi Yousef--described by the prosecution as the "evil genius" behind the plot--and Abdul Yasin, remained at large with rewards of $2,000,000 being offered for information leading to their arrest.
The explosion the previous year, which occurred in an underground car park below the huge office complex, killed five people and injured more than 1,000.
Within several days there were around 55 telephone calls claiming responsibility for the bomb, although the authorities were reported to have no firm leads in apportioning blame. The most likely suspects were thought to be Serbian nationalists, representatives of Iraq or Muslim fundamentalists.
The Center partially reopened on March 1 amidst tight security, although fewer than one-third of the more than 50,000 people who usually worked in the complex were able to return to their offices. It was thought likely that the complex's two 110-storey towers would remain closed for several weeks.
During March federal authorities arrested a number of people accused of involvement in the Feb. 26 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. Authorities recovered a body from the rubble of the Centre on March 15, the number of known fatalities thereby increasing to six.
On March 4 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Mohammed Salamehin in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was subsequently charged with "aiding and abetting" the bomb attack. Salameh, aged 25 and of Palestinian origin, was arrested while trying to reclaim a rental deposit on a van destroyed in the blast.
Ibrahim Elgabrowny, an Egyptian-born contractor, was also arrested on March 4 and was subsequently charged with obstructing justice by scuffling with FBI officers who were searching his apartment for clues.
On March 10 the FBI arrested Nidal Ayyad, a Kuwait-born chemical engineer, at his New Jersey home. He was subsequently charged with "aiding and abetting" the bombing. Ayyad and Salameh had together rented the van believed to have been used in the attack.
Salameh and Ayyad pleaded not guilty to charges of aiding and abetting the bombing in federal court in New York City on March 25. At the same time Elgabrowny pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting federal agents.
The Egyptian authorities on March 24 handed over to FBI officers in Cairo Mahmoud Abu Halima, who had fled from the USA on March 6. Halima, described by FBI officials as the dominant force in the attack, was extradited from Egypt and was charged in New York on March 25 with aiding and abetting the bombing. Also on March 25 Bilal Alkaisi gave himself up at the FBI's Newark, New Jersey, offices after hearing that agents wanted to question him.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan, New York City, released a fresh indictment on March 31 naming a fourth suspect, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef.
Yousef was believed to have fled to Egypt in the aftermath of the bombing. Three men arrested in March, Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad and Mahmoud Abu Halima, were reindicted. All four were charged on a single count of causing the February bombing. The new indictment did not name two other men, Ibrahim Elgabrowny and Bilal Alkaisi, who had been formally linked to the bombing by federal officials and were being held in custody. However, on April 8 Alkaisi was also formally indicted for the bombing.
On April 1 district judge Kevin T. Duffy set a tentative trial date of Sept. 14, rejecting motions by defence attorneys to hold the trial within the 60 days set by federal law. Duffy also imposed a "gag" order on the lawyers and all agents involved in the case. The Middle East International of April 16 described the order as "unprecedented in its severity".
In an interview with the New York Times on April 5, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt claimed that the bombing could have been prevented if US intelligence officials had heeded Egyptian warnings about dangers posed by Muslim fundamentalists in the USA. However, the US State Department issued a statement which denied that Egypt had passed on any specific information on planned acts of terrorism.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
| 
