Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the “blind sheikh," who was convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing died at 78. Abdel-Rahman died of natural causes on Saturday in a North Carolina prison where he was serving a life sentence, authorities said. The Muslim cleric was linked to extremist Islamist circles in Egypt and abroad, denouncing secular Muslims. The Egyptian-born cleric was considered to be a spiritual leader for radical Muslims even after spending more than two decades in prison.