Yup, FBI Arrests Boston Blogger!

OK, I got a vowel wrong, the FBI arrested Tariq Mehanna, not Mohanna.  From today's Boston Globe:

"Statements that Tarek (correction: Tariq) Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas."

"Mehanna, 26, who was living in a sprawling house in Sudbury with his parents, is charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government."

"An FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Boston Monday alleges that Mehanna told agents on Dec. 16, 2006, that he had known Maldonado for three or four years and that when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier, Maldonado was living in a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, and working for a website."

"But Maldonado had actually placed several calls from Somalia to Mehanna's Sudbury home four days before the FBI interview, urging him to 'join him in training for jihad,' the affidavit says."

"After Maldonado's capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who fretted about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit."

"...The complaint filed against Mehanna in Boston charges him with knowingly making false statements concerning an FBI investigation involving international terrorism. He is not facing any charges of terrorism."

The Globe reports that "a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna".  Good to know there are people on the inside who are exposing these  jihadi supporters and wanna-be's. 

The Boston Globe article doesn't mention that Tariq Mehanna is likely blogger Abu Sayaba, who runs the 'Iskandari' blog which posts English language translations of classical Islamic texts in support of violent jihad.  And warns Muslim men that women are forbidden, especially "women of this country."   How do we know this?  According to The Jawa Report, Samir Khan of North Carolina, a violent jihad supporter, wrote about the arrest on his blog.  Samir Khan operate Inshallah Shaheed, an openly pro-jihad, pro-Osama website.  The New York Times wrote about Samir last year. 

You can read the Google-cached version of Samir Khan's blogpost about the arrest here (thanks, Howie!).  Quote:

"We have been informed from our brothers that are good friends with Abu Sabaya, that he was recently arrested in the Boston airport. He was on his way to his new hospital job to a Muslim Country when the FBI arrested him."

Kind of gives lie to the notion that Muslims are driven to jihadi ideology and terrorism due to poverty or oppression, doesn't it?  A pharmacology degree  and lives in Sudbury?

Something else is at work here.  We need to talk openly about the spread of Islamist ideology, be it by the Muslim Brotherhood or Deobandi or Salafi/Wahabis or the Islamic Front.  The feds can never arrest enough people to do more than make a dent, although these arrests and trials do put a damper on things and make people think twice.  Something much bigger is needed to counter the violent jihadi mentality, and to expose the "stealth" jihadi ideology that primes young Muslims to support violent jihad against the West. 

UPDATE: Latest from The Jawa Report here, putting the pieces together, compiling young Tarek's online jihadi friends. 

Comments

[David]

I happen to know this young man. He's got a great sense of humor and is well liked by many, many people in and around Boston. He cares deeply about others and I have seen first hand how he gives freely of his time and money to help others. After getting his Pharmacy degree, he was looking forward to getting married.

You mention his parents' home as if it's some sort of crime to have a nice house. Does that make the Pope an evil person for living like a King? Let's not throw rocks when living in a glass house.

The Feds can hold him all they want, but they will have a very tough road in trying to convince people he's a the horrible person they want to make him out to be. SO will sites like yours that specialize in libel.

[Jane]

They didnt arrest him for terrorism but for lying to the FBI during a terrorism investiagation. His friend has been arrested fighting with al-Qaeda in Somalia, and this "nice guy" was trying to cover for him. Its on tape according to the news article.

[Howie]

Samir Khan took his post down.

But its still on Google cache.

http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:6puVF8dBZ_8J:revolution.muslimpad.com/2008/11/10/make-dua-for-our-br-abu-sabaya-he-has-been-arrested-by-the-fbi/+http://revolution.muslimpad.com/2008/11/10/make-dua-for-our-br-abu-sabaya-he-has-been-arrested-by-the-fbi/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Rusty will post on this shortly

[Darth Odie]

David, he is a rebel spy and a traitor.

http://iskandrani.wordpress.com/

Take him Away!

[miss kelly]

David, young Tariq could be sweet as can be, but that doesn't mean he doesn't support violent jihad against the West. Go look at what is apparently his website. Almost every time someone is arrested for supporting terrorism, people say "I know this man and he is the nicest guy, he would never do that." Happens all the time.

The sprawling Sudbury home of a well-to-do family suggests that poverty isn't driving support for global jihad. There's an underlying religious ideology operating here, and we need to expose it and counter it.

Why would a nice, funny, compassionate man be friends with Daniel Maldonado, who trained in Somalia with Al Quaeda. Open your eyes, David!

Howie, thanks for the tip.

[Prudence]

Key word is "apparently".

Before we pass judgment, let's see where the chips fall in the realm of the law.

The FBI has a long list of corruption and intimidation in and around Boston.He could have easily been caught up in something he wasn’t involved in at all, but a distant acquaintance was. Still, you don’t lie to the FBI, even if you are scared shitless and foreign.

[Darth Odie]

Dear Prudence,

So why did Samir Khan know about it so quick?

Ever read Samir's blog? I'm serious, this guy is smack dab in the middle of a major online terrorist network.

Its not "apparently" once you know who is who the evidence is huge.

http://forums.islamicawakening.com/member.php?u=1410

[Howie]

No, thank you or the tip, and you commenter who tipped you as well. Good deal.

Sammy must be beside himself today. LOL.

[Tiha]

Listen Kelly

Please wear glasses of a person of average intelligence and see how dumb your looking reporting and fearing such a noble man.