Before bin Laden, there was the blind sheik. A generation ago, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman stood as the embodiment of Islamist terrorism: a bearded, religious extremist with a trademark red and white cap and dark sunglasses who helped orchestrate the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and plotted several unrealized attacks against other New York landmarks.
Two decades of imprisonment in high-security detention centers in the U.S. have diminished his public profile. But the Egyptian cleric is gaining notoriety among a new generation of Muslim holy warriors, and he has become a cause celebre for Islamist political leaders who came to power during the Arab Spring.
Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi came into office with a pledge to press the case with the U.S. for Abdel Rahman's release.