Eyad Ismoil (; born June 8, 1971) is a

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian citizen who, for his role in the 1993

World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by Ramzi Yousef and associates against the United States on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the 1 World Trade Center (1971–2001), North Tower of the Worl ...

, was convicted by the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York. Two of these are in New York Ci ...

of conspiracy in 1997.

Early life

Born in

, Ismoil attended

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Jordan. He entered the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1989 on a

student visa A visa (; also known as visa stamp) is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on the duration of the foreigner's stay, area ...

to study engineering at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

, where he enrolled at the Intensive English Language Center to study English as a second language. Ismoil overstayed his visa and moved to

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In December 1992, he was contacted by Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, with whom he re-located to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on February 22, 1993 to begin preparing for the attack.

World Trade Center bombing

On February 26, 1993, Ismoil, accompanied by Yousef, drove a van packed with explosives into the parking garage below the World Trade Center in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The van exploded at 12:17 p.m., killing six people, causing numerous injuries, and inflicting an estimated five hundred million dollars' worth of damage to the WTC. Ismail fled the United States that night, as did Yousef, on a separate flight. In August 1995, Ismoil was captured by Jordanian authorities in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

and

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to the

to stand trial in New York for his role in the bombing. According to Ismoil's attorney, Louis Aidala, Ismoil was tricked into cooperating with the others, and had in fact loaded the explosives into the van, thinking they were cleaning supplies. However, prosecutor David Kelly noted the fingerprints of both men which had been found in a

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

apartment where the bomb had been manufactured, telephone records, and

automatic teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

surveillance videos linking both Ismoil and Yousef to the purchase of chemicals used to create explosives. On November 12, 1997, Ismoil, Yousef, and several other co-defendants were found guilty of conspiracy. On April 3, 1998, Ismoil was sentenced to 240 years in prison, fined $250,000, and ordered to pay $10,000,000 in restitution. Throughout the trial, Ismoil continued to maintain his innocence.

Notes

External links

Full text of ''United States v. Salameh, et al.''
(33.6 MB) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ismoil, Eyad 1971 births Living people Inmates of ADX Florence Islamist bombers Islamic terrorism in New York (state) Jordanian emigrants to the United States Jordanian mass murderers Jordanian people imprisoned in the United States People extradited from Jordan People extradited to the United States People imprisoned on terrorism charges