Body of Egypt's ‘blind sheikh’ arrives in Egypt

By Mahmoud al-Husseini

CAIRO (AA) - The body of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Islamic Group, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, a source at the Cairo International Airport told Anadolu Agency.

“Cairo airport officials coordinated with the relevant authorities to finish all legal procedures so the body could be handed over to his family," the source, speaking anonymously as he was not authorized to talk to the media, said.

Several of Abdel-Rahman’s relatives came to the airport on Wednesday morning to receive the sheikh’s body in advance of his burial in Egypt’s Dakahlia province.

On Saturday, Abdel-Rahman, the founder and spiritual leader of the Cairo-based Gamaa Islamiya (Islamic Group), died in the U.S. at the age of 79.

Also known as "the blind sheikh", Abdel-Rahman was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. for his alleged role in masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.