Nidal Ayyad

Nidal A. Ayyad is a convicted perpetrator of the World Trade Center bombing">World Trade Center (1973–2001)">World Trade Center bombing. He is currently serving an 86-year sentence at United States Penitentiary, Coleman for his role in the bombing.

Early life and education

Ayyad was born in 1968 in Kuwait to Palestinian parents after they fled Palestine due to the Six-Day War, he moved to the United States in 1985, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1991, graduated from Rutgers University and worked as a chemical engineer at AlliedSignal in New Jersey.

Role in World Trade Center bombing

He was the most well educated out of all the men in the terrorist group. Given his successful career, he risked a good life in America by participating in the plot.
The key mastermind behind the bombing, Ramzi Yousef, met up with Ayyad and the other conspirators. They planned to drive a truck to the World Trade Center parking garage and detonate a bomb causing the Twin Towers to collapse, which would have caused thousands of deaths. Instead, the explosion did not go accordingly and did not cause the building to collapse but rather destroyed the parking garage, killing 6 people. Ayyad had helped with coordinating the bombing and helping the group succeed with the scheme.

Arrest and sentencing

Ayyad was arrested on March 10, 1993 the FBI matched his DNA to traces of saliva found on the letter's envelope. An FBI specialist later recovered a document from Ayyad's work computer. In March 1994, Ayyad and four co-participants Mohammed A. Salameh, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmad Ajaj were each convicted in the World Trade Center bombing. In May 1994, they were sentenced to 240 years in prison. In the years since, they have received several sentencing reductions, which could allow them to walk free in their 90s/100s. He is currently being held at United States Penitentiary, Coleman, in Florida and serving an 86-year sentence and will be released in 2067.