Boston-Area Pharmacy Grad Convicted of Supporting Al-Qaeda

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By Janelle Lawrence and Don Jeffrey -

Tarek Mehanna, a pharmacy-school graduate, was convicted by a federal jury in Boston of aiding al-Qaeda and of lying to U.S. authorities about his involvement with the group.

Mehanna, 29, who earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Science, was found guilty on all counts against him, including making false statements, conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and conspiracy to kill in a foreign country.

Mehanna became an operative for al-Qaeda after traveling to Yemen in 2004 for terrorist training, prosecutors told the jury at the beginning of the trial before U.S. District Judge George O’Toole in October.

The defendant translated materials for terrorists from Arabic to English, including an Al-Qaeda manual called “39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad,” or holy war, according to prosecutors. They also said he lied to government agents about his reasons for going to Yemen. He wasn’t charged with planning or trying to carry out any terrorist attacks.

Defense lawyers told the jury that the prosecution by U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz violated their client’s right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Mehanna was arrested at his home in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in October 2009 and pleaded not guilty in November 2009.

Mall Plot Abandoned

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Mehanna and a friend, Ahmed Abousamra, who met at a local mosque when they were boys, discussed a plot to shoot shoppers at a mall, abandoning the plan when they couldn’t get weapons. Mehanna isn’t charged in connection with that alleged plot. Abousamra is a fugitive.

ICSR – The International Centre For The Study Of Radicalisation And Political Violence

Sep 2011

As American As Apple Pie: How Anwar al-Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad

ICSR is pleased to announce the release of its newest report, As American As Apple Pie: How Anwar al-Awlaki Became the Face of Western Jihad, by Research Fellow Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens.  This study provides the first forensic analysis of Anwar al-Awlaki’s work, which tracks his ideological path from a supposedly moderate preacher to an al-Qaeda recruiter.  

Fort Hood Shooter, Nidal Hasan, must plead "Not Guilty"

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

Accused Fort Hood Shooter to Be Arraigned

Wednesday Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 VOA News

The U.S. Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas is being arraigned in a military court Wednesday.

A statement from the base says Major Nidal Hasan will be asked to enter a plea at the hearing, and that the judge could set a trial date.

The 40-year-old Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder for those killed in the November 2009 attack. He also is charged with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the 32 people injured in the shooting.

Al Qaeda eyed oil tankers as terror targets

Terror group considered bombing oil tankers to provoke “extreme economic crisis” in West, according to seized Osama documents

(CBS/AP)

WASHINGTON – The terror group al Qaeda last summer considered hijacking and detonating oil tankers abroad in non-Muslim seas to provoke an “extreme economic crisis” in the West, according to documents seized from Osama bin Laden‘s compound in Pakistan, the U.S. government said.

It added there was no specific or imminent threat and said officials didn’t know whether al Qaeda had continued the plotting since last year.

US may target citizens linked to terrorism, says spy chief

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AFP/Washington

US counter-terrorism officials may try to kill American citizens embroiled in extremist groups overseas with “specific permission” from higher up, the top US intelligence chief said.

“We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community,” director of national intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee in a rare admission that Washington sometimes targets US citizens.

If “we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that,” Blair said in response to questions from the panel’s top Republican, Representative Pete Hoekstra.

Americans linked to terrorism abroad

July 23, 2009

John Walker Lindh

Age: 28

Captured in Afghanistan in 2001, the California native was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and aiding terrorists. He pleaded guilty in 2002 to lesser offenses and is serving a 20-year sentence at a prison in Indiana.

Jose Padilla

Age: 38

Arrested in 2002 and initially accused of plotting with Al Qaeda to detonate a “dirty bomb,” he was held for years as an “enemy combatant.” Padilla, of Chicago, was convicted in 2007 of terrorism support charges. He’s now serving a 17-year sentence at the federal Supermax prison in Colorado.

Adam Gadahn

Age: 30

Born in California, he has appeared in Al Qaeda videos as a propagandist. Indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists, he’s been sought since 2004 by the FBI, which offered a $1-million reward for his capture.

Source: Times research

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-americanjihad-box23-2009jul23,0,2139757.story

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