Tapes Suggest Sheik Knew of Plot Against N.Y. Targets

Secretly taped conversations suggest Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman knew that a group of his followers wanted to attack the United Nations and possibly the FBI headquarters, but his statements appear to stop short of implicating him in the terrorist conspiracy.

New York Newsday has obtained portions of the transcripts from a May 23 meeting in which undercover FBI informant Emad Ali Salem asks Abdul Rahman whether good Muslims should consider the United Nations “a house of the devil.”

Salem talked of planning “a big thing” for the United Nations--which prosecutors say was a bomb attack--and asked Abdul Rahman whether the action was permitted under Islamic law.

“It is not forbidden, but it will put Muslims in a bad light,” Abdul Rahman replied. He continued: “The U.N. is not a force for pressure. It will hurt Islam before the U.N. Think of something else because the U.N. is considered a center for peace. People will say that Muslims are against peace.”

Later in the same conversation, Salem asked whether the conspirators should target FBI headquarters at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. “Well, that needs to be studied,” Abdul Rahman replied. “Go slow.”

Some FBI officials argue that the transcripts are clear evidence of Abdul Rahman’s participation in the plot, and want to add him to the list of 11 suspects charged with the planned terrorist attack. But Abdul Rahman’s attorney, Barbara Nelson, said prosecutors don’t “have any case against him.”

Privately, other federal law enforcement officials concede that the statements do not meet the legal requirements for a conspiracy charge.

Abdul Rahman is now in a federal holding center, while immigration officials determine whether he fraudulently entered the United States, but he has not been charged with either the World Trade Center bombing or the plans to attack several New York City buildings, bridges and tunnels.