Mississauga man who plotted 'next 9/11' cops to prison guard stabbings
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy used weapon made from steel desk to attack two correctional officers: DOJ
Author of the article:Ian Shantz
Published Nov 05, 2025 • 3 minute read
Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy.
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy.
A 27-year-old Mississauga man serving a prison sentence for his role in a thwarted New York City terror attack in 2016 that was inspired by ISIS has pleaded guilty to stabbing two correctional officers with a weapon made from a steel desk in his cell.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday via a news release Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy’s guilty plea tied to the incident on Dec. 7, 2020.
Officials said El Bahnasawy was an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary Allenwood in Pennsylvania at the time of the attack. He was found guilty in 2018 of plotting “the next 9/11” at Times Square and other busy areas in New York City.
Authorities said El Bahnasawy stabbed one officer in the head and face and another in the hand as she stepped in to assist. The first officer lost his right eye as a result of the stabbing.
“When El Bahnasawy was restrained, a note was found in his sock that read, ‘This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State.’ A pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was also found taped to the inside of a locker door in Bahnasawy’s prison cell,” the news release said.
El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty to multiple counts of assault, assault with intent to commit murder and possession of contraband inside a prison along with providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Serving 40-year sentence
He was previously sentenced to 40 years in prison for plotting to carry out a series of orchestrated attacks in New York in support of ISIS.
U.S. law enforcement said the Kuwait-born Canadian had used encrypted electronic messaging applications to co-ordinate with Talha Haroon, a 20-year-old U.S. resident who was living in Pakistan, and Russell Salic, a 38-year-old Philippines citizen and resident, to bomb and shoot up heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in 2016.
“He planned to detonate bombs in Times Square and the New York City subway system, and to shoot civilians at concert venues. Demonstrating his commitment to carry out the attacks, El Bahnasawy pinpointed bomb locations on a map of the subway system, and acquired an array of bomb-making materials,” the Department of Justice said at the time.
They said El Bahnasawy acquired bomb-making materials in the lead-up to the foiled plot and had secured a cabin near New York City for building explosive devices and staging the attacks.
Haroon was to meet El Bahnasawy in New York for the attack, while Salic had wired money from the Philippines to the U.S. to fund the operation, the Department of Justice said.
Undercover agent infiltrated group
An FBI agent working undercover infiltrated the group while posting as an ISIS supporter. In May 2016, El Bahnasawy was arrested by the FBI after he travelled from Canada to New York City to carry out the attacks.
Haroon was arrested in Pakistan in September 2016 and Salic was arrested in the Philippines in April 2017.
The Department of Justice said the maximum penalty for the offences El Bahnasawy pleaded guilty to is 130 years.
El Bahnasawy had been diagnosed with a severed bipolar disorder and addiction problems when the terror plotting began.
In a 2021 story by the CBC, his parents said their son attempted suicide five times in prison because of his depression. They were asking for their son to be transferred to a Canadian prison with mental-health facilities.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and the National Security Division of the Department of Justice announced today that Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 27, of Ontario, Canada, pleaded guilty to offenses related to a 2020 attack on correctional officers at the United...
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A 27-year-old Mississauga man in prison for a thwarted terror attack has pleaded guilty to stabbing two correctional officers. Read more.
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