Family of 'Blind Sheikh' maintains vigil at US Embassy

For the past five months, beginning August 12, 2011 and continuing through the commemorative events in Cairo marking the anniversary of Egypt's January 25, 2011 Revolution, family members of Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman have maintained a sit-in at the U.S. Embassy, calling for release of the 'Blind Sheikh'.

Abdel Rahman's supporters have also launched a full-fledged public campaign aimed at Egypt's revolutionary youth, as well as the US government and President Barack Obama. Their street corner is bedecked with posters featuring their demands and direct appeals to the American government.

“We told all of the security forces in Egypt, there are only two ways we leave this place: We are killed or Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman is returned,” says Hagag al-Shimy, a brother-in-law of the Sheikh.

For the past 18 years Abdel Rahman has been serving a life sentence in the US, following investigations into the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.

In October, during negotiations for a prisoner swap between Israel and Egypt that involved a dual Israeli-American national, local media reported that Abdel Rahman's supporters tried to include the Sheikh in the deal. They were unsuccessful.

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