Feature: Burial of "Blind Sheikh" stirs debate in Egypt

The burial of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman, a jihadist leader linked to numerous bomb plots who died in prison in the United States on Saturday, has stirred debate in Egypt.

His death has come with a division in Egyptian society: some call for bringing his body back to be buried in his home village in Egypt's Delta while others say he should be dishonored and left in the United States.

"Allah has taken the soul of Sheikh Omar," his daughter Asmaa Abdel-Rahman tweeted in Arabic on Saturday.

Ammar, one of Abdel-Rahman's son, said a U.S. representative had phoned him about his father's death in prison in North Carolina.

The 78-year-old "Blind Sheikh" was serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing in New York, where six people were killed and hundreds others injured when a truck bomb was detonated in the building's garage.

He was the spiritual leader of Islamic group Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, which was suspected to be responsible for many acts of violence such as the 1997 massacre that killed 62 in Luxor, Egypt.

The Egyptian foreign ministry said on Sunday that it follows the U.S. authority's arrangement of shipping the body to Egypt as soon as possible.

In his will, the "Blind Sheikh" asked to be buried in his family cemetery in Gamaliya city in Daqahliya province, north of Cairo.

"We started to paint his tomb and prepare it to receive his body from the United States," said Shamas Abdel Rahman, a nephew of Abdel-Rahman.

Ahmad Moussa, a TV talk show presenter, however, was against burying Abdel-Rahman in Egypt, as "his shrine will be a destination for terrorists to visit from everywhere."

The "Blind Sheikh" was the biggest supporter of terrorism against his country, Moussa said, wondering how Egypt could honor him on its land.

A hashtag "Omar Abdel-Rahman not to bury in Egypt" has trended with 14,000 tweets only one hour after its launch on Sunday.

"Egypt rejects desecration of soil by burying a terrorist on its land," said one tweet.

"Oh, Egypt sacred land, we wouldn't allow a terrorist and traitor to be buried here," said another tweet.

Born in a village along the Nile in 1938, Abdel-Rahman lost his eyesight because of childhood diabetes. He graduated from Azhar University's Religious Science Faculty in 1956.

After graduation, he became associated with Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. In his speeches, he often called for the installation of an Islamic government in Egypt.

In 1990, he managed to get to New York after the U.S. Embassy in Sudan granted him a tourist visa. He preached in Brooklyn and New Jersey mosques.

In the aftermath of 1993 World Trade Center bombing, he was arrested and finally convicted of a series of conspiracies including attempts to murder then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and to "wage a war of urban terrorism against the United States."

In 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing, he gave a statement that lasted over an hour and encouraged his followers to stand up to the United States.

"The prosecution wants that we should kneel and be subservient to America and obey America," he said. "But we do not kneel to anyone, except to God."

Despite being imprisoned for 20 years, he remained a spiritual leader of Jihadists in the Middle East, where followers listened to cassette tapes and radio broadcasts of his sermons.

A year before the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden had pledged a war to free Abdel-Rahman from the U.S. prison.

In 2011, Abdel-Rahman's followers organized a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo demanding his release for health reasons.

In 2012, then Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said in his first national speech that securing Abdel-Rahman's freedom would be a priority. Endit