Ontario man convicted in U.S. terror plot will now serve 90 years in prison
An Ontario man serving a 40-year prison sentence for his role in plotting a mass-casualty ISIS attack in New York City just had another 50 years tacked onto his sentence.
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a 28-year-old from Ontario, was sentenced on Monday morning for a 2020 attack on correctional officers at U.S. Penitentiary Allenwood. The sentence extends his prison term to 90 years from his initial 2018 sentence, meaning El Bahnasawy would be 110 by the time he serves his full term.
"Bahnasawy, who is already serving a 40-year sentence in federal prison for plotting mass casualty attacks in New York City on behalf of ISIS, savagely attacked corrections officers once again on behalf of ISIS," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.
"Today's sentence will further ensure that Bahnasawy remains in prison, where he can do much less harm, for a very long time."
He was first arrested in 2016, accused of conspiring to plot to carry out shootings and bombings across New York City, and was sentenced to four decades in prison in 2018.
El Bahnasawy was already two years into his 40-year sentence at USP Allenwood in 2020, when, on Dec. 7 of that year, he attacked two corrections officers using a makeshift weapon made from a fragment of the steel desk from his cell, stabbing one officer multiple times, and then stabbing another corrections officer responding to the attack. The first officer attacked in the incident ultimately lost his right eye.
"Although he was behind bars, this convicted terrorist committed a horrific attack on two corrections officers in the name of ISIS, which they fortunately survived," said Assistant Director Jarod Brown of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division.
In the immediate aftermath of the prison attack, a note was found in the sock of a restrained Bahnasawy reading, "This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State." Another pledge to ISIS was found taped inside his prison cell locker.
"We will prosecute those who aid, attempt to aid, or commit violence on behalf of the pernicious ISIS ideology wherever they may be found," said U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller, Middle District of Pennsylvania. "Today's sentence reflects our unwavering commitment to fight those who perpetrate violence in the name of ISIS even behind prison walls."
Last November, Bahnasawy pleaded guilty to multiple counts of assault, assault with intent to commit murder, and possession of contraband inside a prison, as well as providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
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