17/11/2008
Court Hearing for Tariq Mehanna

Show Your Support – Attend the Hearing

Monday, November 17, 2008
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm

Location:
John Joseph Moakley US Federal Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way
Boston
Massachusetts 02210
(617) 748 9152

Please show your support by attending Tarek’s next court appearance.
Who is Tariq Mehanna?

Tariq Mehanna is a 26 year old American citizen, of Egyptian extract, who lived with his parents in Sudbury, Boston. He earned a doctorate in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in May 2008.

Mehanna was arrested on Saturday 8th November 2008, at Logan International Airport, as he was about to board a flight to start a new job in a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Mehanna had been the subject of harassment from the FBI for some time, pressuring him to become an informant for the government or else charges would be laid against him. Mehanna has now been charged with knowingly make false statements concerning an FBI investigation involving international terrorism. He is not facing any charges of terrorism. His family questioned the decision to arrest him two years after the FBI had interviewed him and just as he was about to leave the country.

His lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., commented, “Tarek is an American citizen with no prior criminal record whatsoever. He recently graduated from a Massachusetts college and was on his way abroad to begin a job working in a renowned medical facility. If this is the FBI’s idea of a terrorist, they are using a net that is designed to catch minnows instead of sharks.”

The FBI affidavit alleges that Tarek told agents in December 2006 that he had known detainee Daniel Maldonado for three or four years and when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier he had been living in Alexandria, Egypt. Maldanado was arrested in January 2007 and became the first US citizen charged with participating in terrorist activities in Somalia. The FBI claim that Maldanado actually contacted Mehanna from Somalia four days prior to the FBI interview. They rely upon statements made by Maldonado under interrogation whilst he was held without charge or access to a lawyer, in the Horn of Africa. Other detainees captured in the region at the same time have reported the use of torture and threats during interrogations. After Maldonado’s capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, in which he is alleged to have admitted lying to the FBI about Maldanado’s whereabouts.

On November 10th, Mehanna was ordered held without bail pending a hearing on whether he should be jailed without bail until the case is resolved.

One acquaintance of Mehanna’s left a comment on the Boston Globe’s website “I happen to know this young man. He’s got a great sense of humour 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 his new job and eventually getting married. The Feds can hold him all they want, but they will have a very tough road in trying to convince people he’s the horrible person they want to make him out to be.”

CAN’T MAKE IT?

If you cannot attend the hearing then please show your support by sending a message for Tarek and/or his family to contact@cageprisoners.com