A Federal jury in New York convicted Ramzi Ahmed Yousef yesterday of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in the hope of killing as many Americans as possible.
Also convicted was Eyad Ismoil (26), driver of the van used in the blast. On the third day of deliberations the jury convicted the defendants of all 10 counts against each of them.
The two men were charged with carrying out the bombing on February 26th, 1993, which killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Prosecutors said the blast was a "twisted form of protest" to punish the US for its support of Israel.
Lawyers for both Yousef and Ismoil said they would appeal.
Yousef (29) was convicted in a separate case last year of plotting to bomb a dozen US passenger jets.
He was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan, in February 1995. A Secret Service agent testified that Yousef had confessed during his extradition flight to New York that he hoped the bomb would cause one of the two World Trade Center towers to fall on its twin, killing at least 250,000 Americans.
