Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tarek Mehanna, a 26-year-old who graduated in May from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, was arrested last weekend as he was about to board a flight from Boston to start a new job in Saudi Arabia.
In an affidavit unsealed Monday, federal authorities allege Mehanna, of Sudbury, lied to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado.
Mehanna told agents Maldonado was living in Egypt and working for a Web site, according to the affidavit. But Maldonado had made several calls to Mehanna from Somalia urging him to "join him in training for jihad," the affidavit said.
Mehanna is not facing terrorism charges.
Mehanna's lawyer told The Boston Globe his client is an American citizen with no criminal record.
"If this is the FBI's idea of a terrorist, they are using a net that is designed to catch minnows instead of sharks," attorney J.W. Carney Jr. said.
Maldonado, also a U.S. citizen, is serving a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty in federal court in Houston last year to training alongside al-Qaida members at the Somalia camp. He said his goal was to help overthrow the Somali government and install an Islamic state.
Source: AP, Nov 12, 2008