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A Canadian man serving time for an ISIS-directed New York City plot was sentenced to 50 years in prison for stabbing two corrections officers, the US Justice Department announced on October 19.
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 28, of Ontario, Canada, will serve the new term after his existing 40-year sentence. He pleaded guilty in November 2025 to multiple counts of assault, assault with intent to commit murder and possessing contraband in prison. He also pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The attack took place on December 7, 2020, at the US Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. El Bahnasawy used a weapon made from part of a steel desk in his cell. He stabbed one officer in the head and face. When a second officer responded, he stabbed her in the hand. The first officer later lost his right eye.
Investigators found a note in his sock that read, "This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State." They also found an ISIS pledge of allegiance taped inside a locker door in his cell.
El Bahnasawy was already in custody for a separate case. He and co-conspirators Talha Haroon and Russell Salic planned bombings and shootings in crowded areas of New York during Ramadan in 2016. An undercover FBI agent posed as an ISIS supporter and infiltrated the plot. The FBI arrested him in May 2016 after he traveled from Canada to the New York area. He has been in custody since.
The FBI's Philadelphia Field Office investigated the prison attack. Assistant US Attorney Geoffrey MacArthur and Deputy Chief Larry Schneider of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case. The US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania handled the matter.
US Attorney Brian D. Miller said, "We will prosecute those who aid, attempt to aid, or commit violence on behalf of the pernicious ISIS ideology wherever they may be found."
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