Tarek Mehanna falsely convicted on all counts, faces life sentence

Tarek Mehanna

Justice-loving people were outraged on Dec. 20 when, after a nearly two-month trial, a federal jury falsely convicted Dr. Tarek Mehanna on trumped up “terrorism” charges. Sentencing will occur on April 12. He faces possible life imprisonment.

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 supporters say he is a respected leader in his community who has done nothing other than to criticize U.S. foreign policy, particularly as it affects Muslims here and abroad. Because of his stature in the Muslim community, the FBI repeatedly pursued him to be an informant on others in his community.

When he steadfastly refused, he was arrested in 2008 and charged with making “false statements to the FBI.” When Mehanna was arrested again in 2009, the charge was “material support for terrorism.” There was no new information about any actions on his part.

The actions Mehanna was charged with involve conversations, translating books, traveling to the Middle East and posting to websites. He has been denied bail twice, even though the FBI released him to the community after his first arrest and presented no information about why or how he has since become much more dangerous.

Prosecutorial misconduct leads
to unjust conviction

Mehanna’s trial began on Oct. 24. Throughout the trial, support for him was strong every day. The main courtroom was filled. Often one or two other courtrooms were needed to accommodate supporters. During the entire six weeks of prosecution testimony, no evidence was presented of Mehanna committing any violent or criminal act.

In contrast, the six FBI informants who testified against Mehanna had committed such acts. They were given prosecutorial immunity in exchange for their testimony. The prosecution spent six weeks showing videos and chats taken out of context from Mehanna’s computer, thereby distorting their meaning. That was deliberately designed to prejudice the jury. The judge’s repeated denials of defense motions and objections seeking to exclude irrelevant and highly prejudicial material were met with six defense motions for a mistrial. The judge denied them all.

What was shown was that Mehanna was an Islamic scholar, that he supported the right of Muslim nations to defend themselves against armed invasion and occupation, and that he opposed the U.S. war in Iraq. The incessant propaganda and anti-Muslim prejudice fed to the U.S. public influenced the jury to find Mehanna guilty on all seven counts.

Supporters, who were present throughout the proceedings and who packed the court for the closing arguments, vowed to support Mehanna’s appeals and to mount a campaign to stop the government’s goal of railroading him to life in prison.

This case follows the alarming pattern of persecution of Muslims that has emerged since 9/11: the secret evidence; inflammatory pre-trial accusations fed to the press by government prosecutors; manipulation of informants and cooperating witnesses through threats and rewards; and the use of “material support of terrorism” charges to criminalize dissent. Cointelpro-style tactics of prosecutorial misconduct have produced many unjust convictions.

President Barack Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act goes beyond the policies of former President George Bush. This bill authorizes the indefinite detention in military custody of U.S. citizens and legal residents detained in this country. It nullifies the Bill of Rights. This increased repression and racism are the expression of U.S. rulers’ desperate fear of workers and oppressed peoples who are rising up worldwide to resist capitalism, which is increasingly incapable of meeting their basic human needs. n