Attorney: Mehanna Arrested After Refusing To Be FBI Informant

By Abigail Beshkin
Nov 12, 2009, 4:37 PM
12 Comments

Tarek Mehanna's attorney exiting the courthouse with Mehanna's parents, as Mehanna's supporters looked on. Mehanna remains in jail pending a decision on whether he can be released on bail.

Tarek Mehanna's attorney, J.W. Carney, and parents leave federal district court in Boston after a hearing on Thursday. (AP)

BOSTON — An attorney for the Sudbury man accused of plotting terrorist attacks says his client was charged only after he refused to become an informant for the FBI.

Tarek Mehanna appeared in federal court in downtown Boston on Thursday for a bail hearing.

Prosecutor Alkoe Chakravarty argued that Mehanna must remain in jail because his radical views make him a danger to the public, and that Mehanna would be likely to flee the country before trial.

But Mehanna’s attorney, J.W. Carney, argued for his client to be released to home confinement while awaiting trial. He said Mehanna was arrested only after he had been approached by the FBI several times but was unwilling to be an informant.

“My client was visited by the FBI who wanted him to be an informant against the Muslim community. He declined,” Carney said. “They came to see him again and questioned him further and again asked him, and he declined. They came to him a third time and told him he would be charged with a crime and wanted him to become an informant and he declined to become an informant. Months later he was charged with a crime and he was released in this court in December of 2008.”

About a year ago, Mehanna was charged with lying in 2006 about the whereabouts of an acquaintance who is now serving a prison sentence for training with al-Qaida.

Mehanna was arrested again last month on more serious charges, including conspiring to shoot shoppers in a mall, kill two U.S. politicians and kill American soldiers in Iraq.

During arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Chakravarty said Mehanna and his friends had gathered to watch videos of Americans being beheaded.

Carney said that description illustrates that the government had tried to use “every vehicle of character assassination” to paint a negative picture of Mehanna. He said this case is about First Amendment rights.

“I am proud that we still have the First Amendment in this country. It’s not designed to protect popular speech, but unpopular speech,” he said. “This trial will very much center on the fact that Tarek Mehanna occasionally made unpopular speech that is completely protected by the First Amendment.”

About 100 supporters, including about two dozen of Mehanna’s former students from a Muslim school in Worcester, gathered outside the courthouse. Also among the supporters was Mehanna’s mother, Souad Mehanna. “He’s a wonderful boy. He’s a wonderful son,” she said. “He’s innocent.”

Magistrate Judge Leo Sorokin did not immediately rule. Carney said he expects a ruling in about two weeks.

Please follow our community rules when engaging in comment discussion on wbur.org.

Mark

Pretty interesting article…one thing that is confusing me is that if Mehanna was plotting to kill people in malls and government officials for the last ten years (2000-2009), then why didn’t the government bring up these charges in 2008 when he was arrested and charged with something else (i think lying to the fbi was what I read). It seems odd that the government would grant bail in 2008 to someone that they know was plotting to do all this for the last ten years… I really pray for the sake of our country that Mehanna is tried fairly and is not just classed as another “terrorist” just because he has a big beard…this really reminds me of the Salem witch trials …
MIKE

THIS GUY WAS TOO DUMB TO BE RECRUITED BY CRAZY ISLAMIC KILLERS IN AFGHANISTAN, THIS GUY IS A TOTAL LOSER. DEPORT HIM TO BE TORTURED IN EGYPT.
http://WWW.TRABAL.ORG MIKE

DEPORT THIS FREAK. LET THE EGYPTIANS DEAL WITH HIS INSANE MIND….
David

@Mike

Do you have any original thoughts? Or do you just regurgitate the garbage you read on worthless rags like the Herald. What do you know of this man other than what you were told to believe by the government and the corporate media? This man ought to be presumed innocent and we should question the gov’t. There are many questions to be asked. When all is said and done, they have no case against him, but people like you just fall for it every time and believe what they want you to believe. Before calling anyone a loser, look in the mirror.
mackie mccleod

to view a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 1500 pages long see
forums.signonsandiego. com/showthread.php?t=59139

to view a partial list of FBI agents arrested for pedophilia see
dallasnews. com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3574
Rudolf

What’s the beef? The government says he is guilty but if he cooperates into finding other terrorists, they’ll cut him a break. He didn’t coop so they indicted him. What’s the problem?
Anonymous

I agree with Mark – let’s hope he gets a fair trail. I ofcourse have no idea if he is innocent or guilty, but he needs a fair trail. Given the circumstances, I’m not comfortable with him being taken out of jail. If the evidence is compelling, I don’t think house arrest is adequate.
http://www.filipinoboston.blogspot.com akilez

Well totally BOGUS. The government can destroy people, fabricate evidence etc etc. CIA is the worst offender of human rights.

3 times the FBI approached this man and three times they failed.
http://wbur.org Veronica

MIKE;

Given how much you seem to know about this man with so little factual information, you must yourself be a freak, insane, dumb, and a loser. Takes one to know one…
Anonymous

The federal government usually indicts when their case is solid and they have all the evidence. That is why defendants rarely go to trial. They have been caught in the act and the prosecutors have the evidence to prove it. And they can lawfully take all the time they want to gather evidence before charging someone. The govt. does make mistakes, or beaurocratic screw ups happen, then defendants win their cases, particularly at the state level. OJ Simpson comes to mind. Additionally, if Mehanna is not a U.S. citizen, he will be deported if convicted. That is why we have defense attorneys, to push back at the government and make sure the authorities follow the law at every step when they decide to arrest and charge people. BUT, the government does not run around snooping on all us regular people fabricating cases. Almost everyone in this country live their lives in peace and quiet with no contact with the autorities.
If you hate the U.S. so much; we live in a free country, so leave and go live in another country. If you like it out there …. stay there and don’t come back.
Anonymous

Reading some of the readers’ comments on this story makes me wonder under which stone they came out from. For example, Rudolf says:
“What’s the beef? The government says he is guilty but if he cooperates into finding other terrorists, they’ll cut him a break. He didn’t coop so they indicted him. What’s the problem?”

Old, wise Rudolf has clearly been living in a cave…..as far as he’s concerned the government can’t do any wrong…if they say this guy is guilty, then forget about the courts, he should “accept” his guilt and help catch the other bad guys, why? Because the government said so, and they MUST be right, right?

For people like Rudolf, I am listing this link; may be they will make them realize that need to stop living in la la land:

# 1) http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2009-10-08/news/unholy-war-fbi-tries-to-deport-north-miami-beach-imam-foad-farahi-for-refusing-to-be-an-informant/1

P.S. I read somewhere that he is a US citizen by birth, so I’m really sorry that some of the posters can’t get their wish granted, i.e., this is his country and he can’t be deported.
An American

What is happening in the United States of America? How can US citizens actually support this injustice? Have we not taken an oath to protect the United States Constitution? What ever happened to freedom of speech? What ever happened to the right to due process? What is going on in this country, which was founded on morals and beautiful values? I guarantee you if the founding fathers were alive, they would oppose this injustice with every bone in their body.

The trend is clear; just research the case of Fahad Hashmi, an innocent US citizen awaiting trial for four years. Even if he were guilty (anyone with an objective mind will say he is not) he deserves a fair and speedy trial. Anything else is unacceptable here; maybe it’s acceptable for governments of other countries, but not for the United States.

Anyone who claims to be an American needs to remember what the US Constitution says about free speech and the right to due process. Then, judge these cases as you wish.