Canadian ISIS plotter gets 50 more years for stabbing US prison guards

Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a 28-year-old Canadian already serving 40 years for an ISIS-inspired plot against New York City, was sentenced to 50 more years for a 2020 attack that cost a correctional officer his right eye.

Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 28, a Canadian from Ontario who is already serving 40 years for plotting ISIS-inspired attacks in New York City, was sentenced on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, to 50 more years in federal prison for attacking two correctional officers, the US Justice Department said.

The new sentence will run consecutively to the one he is already serving, bringing his combined prison terms to 90 years.

Officer lost his right eye

US Penitentiary Allenwood in Pennsylvania

On Dec. 7, 2020, Bahnasawy attacked two officers at US Penitentiary Allenwood in Pennsylvania with a weapon made from part of a steel desk in his cell. He stabbed one officer in the head and face and, when a second officer came to help, stabbed her in the hand. The first officer eventually lost his right eye.

After he was restrained, a note reading "This is a terrorist attack for the Islamic State" was found in his sock, and a pledge of allegiance to ISIS was found taped inside a locker door in his cell, according to the Justice Department.

Bahnasawy pleaded guilty in November 2025 to multiple counts of assault, assault with intent to commit murder, possession of contraband in prison and providing material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The case was prosecuted in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The 2016 New York plot

Bahnasawy, then 20 and living in Mississauga, Ontario, plotted with Talha Haroon and Russell Salic to carry out bombings and shootings in crowded parts of New York City, including Times Square, the subway and concert venues, during Ramadan in 2016. An undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter infiltrated the plot, and Bahnasawy was arrested in May 2016 after traveling from Canada to the New York area. He pleaded guilty that October.

Canadian media have reported that he struggled with serious mental health problems and opioid addiction before he was drawn to ISIS.

'Even behind prison walls'

"Bahnasawy, who is already serving a 40-year sentence in federal prison for plotting mass casualty attacks in New York City on behalf of ISIS, savagely attacked corrections officers once again on behalf of ISIS," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. "Today's sentence will further ensure that Bahnasawy remains in prison, where he can do much less harm, for a very long time."

US Attorney Brian D. Miller of the Middle District of Pennsylvania said the sentence "reflects our unwavering commitment to fight those who perpetrate violence in the name of ISIS even behind prison walls." Jarod Brown of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division said the two officers "fortunately survived" what he called a horrific attack.

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Canadian ISIS plotter gets 50 more years for stabbing US prison guards