Bomb Plot Architect Gets Life Term

After an extraordinary courtroom confrontation during which a judge labeled him “an apostle of evil” and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef proclaimed, “I am a terrorist and I am proud of it,” the architect of the World Trade Center bombing was sentenced Thursday to life plus 240 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Kevin T. Duffy also recommended that Yousef be kept in constant solitary confinement, limited to visits with his lawyer.

“Your treatment is like a person who had a virus that could communicate plague around the world,” Duffy lectured the slim, dark-haired defendant.

Yousef, described by prosecutors as one of the world’s most dangerous men, was sentenced for the 1993 explosion that killed six people and injured more than 1,000, as well as a plot the following year to almost simultaneously blow up a dozen U.S.-owned airliners over the Pacific Ocean.

The judge also fined Yousef $4.5 million and ordered that he provide $250 million in restitution to the victims of his crimes.

Duffy said he was adding the financial penalty because someone might be “perverse enough” to buy the 29-year-old terrorist’s story and that he didn’t want Yousef to profit from such a move.

“Make no mistake, justice has prevailed,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said after the sentencing.

“This sentence sends a clear message that this country will respond decisively to terrorist acts with the full force of the law,” said U.S. Atty. Mary Jo White, whose office prosecuted Yousef.

In the wake of the sentencing, the State Department issued a warning to travelers.

“While we have no specific information of a threat, the potential exists for retaliation by Yousef’s sympathizers against American interests,” the department said. “ . . . Government installations have been instructed to review their security precautions. American citizens traveling abroad should pay close attention to their personal security practices.”

After quoting from the Koran to show that Yousef had betrayed the humanitarian principles of his faith, Duffy told Yousef:

“You adored not Allah but the evil you had become. I must say, as an apostle of evil, you have been most effective.”

” . . . You had planned to topple one of the twin towers onto the other,” Duffy said. “ . . . If your plot had been successful, you would have killed a quarter of a million people.”

“You did not care just so long as you left dead bodies. . . . You just wanted to kill for the thrill of killing human beings.”

“Your God is not Allah. Your God is death,” the judge added, with cold, controlled anger. “You do not worship Allah. You worship death.”

The confrontation between Duffy and Yousef in the crowded courtroom was riveting.

In defense of his actions before sentencing, Yousef first accused the United States of terrorism in dropping atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II and in later supporting Israel.

He criticized the Israeli government for blowing up the homes of suspected terrorists and the United States for supporting Israel in the United Nations.

Making no apologies, Yousef declared, “You keep talking about solving problems by peaceful means and peaceful ways. You are the people who stand in the way of peaceful means and peaceful ways.

“You are butchers and terrorists yourself.

“Yes, I am a terrorist, and I am proud of it as long as it is against the U.S. government and Israel. You are butchers, liars and hypocrites.”

On Nov. 12, after a four-month trial, Yousef was convicted on all 10 counts against him for his participation in the World Trade Center bombing on Feb. 26, 1993.

On Sept. 5, 1996, Yousef was found guilty in a separate four-month trial on all eight counts against him in a terrorist plot to bomb the airliners.

That plot was aborted by authorities after fire broke out in a Manila apartment where Yousef and companions made bombs.

But in a rehearsal for the larger airliner attack, a device was set off aboard a Philippines Airlines jet bound for Japan on Dec. 11, 1994, killing a passenger and injuring others.

On Thursday, prosecutors unsealed a new indictment in the airplane bomb plot.

The court papers named a new defendant, Khaled Shaikh Mohammad, who is believed to be in his mid-30s and from a region of Pakistan near the Iranian border.

“He is alleged to be a major player,” said White, who declined to provide further details.

A $2-million reward was announced for information leading to his capture.

After fleeing New York the night of the World Trade Center bombing, Yousef was captured in Pakistan in February 1995.

Even with Thursday’s sentencing, the World Trade Center case is not closed. Authorities have posted a $2-million reward for Abdul Rahman Yasin, also charged with participating in the plot. Yasin was born in Bloomington, Ind., and moved to Iraq in the 1960s.

For his part in the World Trade Center plot, Yousef received the same 240-year sentence as four previous defendants tried before Duffy in 1994. The life sentence was for the airline plot.

The judge said that even after the trial and an extensive investigation, Yousef--who according to court papers used 11 aliases--remains a mystery.

“We do not even know what your real name is,” the judge told the defendant. “Since your capture, you have used three aliases.”

“I must admit, you are not without charm,” Duffy mused.

“Death was truly your God, your master,” the judge said.