US deports Sudanese convicted in 1996 of huge bomb plot

A Sudanese national convicted of conspiring to blow up the UN and other New York landmarks has been deported from the United States after completing his sentence, officials said Friday.

Amir Abdelghani, 59, was jailed in 1996 for being part of a plot led by the late Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman that also planned to target FBI offices.

He was transferred to a detention center in July after serving most of his 30-year sentence and deported on October 12, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"This removal is a victory for the United States and further emphasizes ICE's vital role in protecting our nation," Simona Flores-Lund, an ICE director in Philadelphia, said in a statement.

Abdelghani was among 10 people convicted of seditious conspiracy against the US and attempted bombings at the end of 1995 following a trial that lasted almost a year.

The attacks, thwarted in June 1993, were aimed at pressing the US to curb its support of Israel and the plotters also planned to blow up tunnels and bridges in Manhattan.

The men were not charged with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that left six dead and around 1,000 injured, but officials suspected they had links to it.

Abdel Rahman, nicknamed "The Blind Sheikh," was the leader of Egyptian extremist group Jamaa Islamiya. He died in a US federal prison in 2017.