Tarek Mehanna Sentenced

From Boston Indymedia

Dr. Tarek Mehanna was sentenced to 210 months today at the Moakley Federal Courthouse, with more than 300 supporters packing the courtroom and overflow rooms. In a landmark case that has mobilized civil liberties and Muslim groups nationwide, Dr. Mehanna was sentenced for providing ‘material support’ to a terrorist organization, amidst hundreds of protesting supporters. Mehanna addressed the court, stating:

“Everything I learned [as a young adult] confirmed what I was beginning to learn when I was six: that
throughout history there has been a constant struggle between the oppressors and the oppressed. And with each struggle I learned about, I found myself consistently siding with the oppressed and consistantly siding
with those that defend them.”

U.S. man found guilty of aiding terrorism

By Lauren Keiper

BOSTON (Reuters) – A jury on

Tuesday found a Massachusetts man guilty of conspiring to support al Qaeda by translating Arabic messages and traveling to Yemen for terrorism training.

Tarek Mehanna, 29, was found guilty on all seven counts against him and faces the possibility of life in prison.

The U.S. citizen was arrested in 2009 and charged with “providing and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.” He was also charged with conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and lying to law enforcement officers.

Members of his defense team called themselves “extraordinarily disappointed” with the verdict and said they will appeal.

“The charges scare people. The charges scared us when we first saw them,” defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr said outside the federal courthouse.

Free Tarek Mehanna!

By Frank Neisser, Worker’s World

Dr. Tarek Mehanna is a 28-year-old Muslim, an Egyptian-American and a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He has been held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day since his arrest in 2009.

Mehanna’s trial begins with jury selection on Oct. 24 at the Moakley Federal Court House in Boston. The Free Tarek Mahanna Support Committee is calling on supporters to pack the court on Oct. 27 at 9:00 a.m. Supporters can get information on the defense campaign at http://www.freetarek.com

Mehanna’s supporters say he is a respected leader in his community who has done nothing other than be critical of the foreign policy of the United States, particularly as it impacts Muslim countries and the Muslim community. Because of his stature in the Muslim community, he was repeatedly pursued by the FBI to be an informant on others in the community.