The family of an Egyptian Islamist militant jailed in the United States is seeking a swap involving him and eight detained foreign aid workers in Afghanistan.
A son of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman says one of the cleric's wives has written letters to both President Bush in Washington and to Islamic Taleban authorities in Kabul pleading for the exchange.
Sheikh Omar -- the spiritual leader of the extremist Islamic group Gamaa't al-Islamiya -- is said to be in poor health.
He is serving a life sentence in the United States for conspiracy in the 1993 New York City bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people and injured more than 200 others.
The eight detained foreign aid workers, including two Americans, are on trial in Afghanistan on charges of preaching Christianity.