Inmate Pleads Guilty to Assault on Corrections Officers

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 State Penitentiary Allenwood.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, Bahnasawy was an inmate at USP Allenwood who, on December 7, 2020, attacked two corrections officers using a weapon made from part of a steel desk in his cell.  Bahnasawy stabbed one officer in the head and face, and, when a second responded to assist, Bahnasawy stabbed her in the hand.  

The first officer eventually lost his right eye as a result of the attack.  When 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.  Today, 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. 

At the time of the attacks at USP Allenwood, Bahnasawy was serving a sentence for his role in plotting a mass-casualty terrorist attack in New York City on behalf of ISIS.  Bahnasawy, a then-20-year-old Canadian citizen and resident, plotted with Talha Haroon and Russell Salic to conduct bombings and shootings in heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan in 2016, all in the name of ISIS.   

An undercover FBI agent (UC) infiltrated the co-conspirators’ terrorist plot, posing as an ISIS supporter prepared to join in the attacks.  The FBI arrested Bahnasawy in May 2016 after he traveled from Canada to the New York City area in preparation for the attacks, and he has been in custody since that time.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Geoffrey MacArthur and Counterterrorism Section Trial Attorney Jessica L. Joyce prosecuted this case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for these offenses is 130 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.