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| Defense calls Mehanna a scholar |
| 2011-11-05 |
| A defense lawyer for Tarek Mehanna sought yesterday to portray him as a scholar devoted to Islam and not the radical committed to violence, jihad and Al Qaeda that prosecutors have described. Janice Bassil, referring to the testimony of prosecution witness Ali Aboubakr, claimed that the witness and Mehanna had a close circle of friends who studied Islam and discussed their faith, but were not the type to take up arms against Americans. "You weren't a terrorist cell," Bassil said, during Mehanna's trial. Aboubakr responded "No.'' Bassil asked, Mehanna "never said, 'I went to Yemen so that I could go to Iraq so I could kill American soldiers,' did he?" Aboubakr said he didn't. For nearly four hours, Bassil asked Aboubakr questions about his religion and his talks with Mehanna, trying to establish that Aboubakr's individual beliefs were not shaped by Mehanna, and that both men were centered on Islamic law and not terror. Earlier this week, FBI agents testified that they found videos and documents on Mehanna's computer promoting violent jihad during a secret search of his home in 2006. Aboubakr, who prosecutors have described as one of Mehanna's followers, testified for the government Thursday that Mehanna would translate jihad videos and send them to him, including one that featured the 9-11 hijackers. He said Mehanna supported the attacks. Aboubakr also testified that Mehanna would speak in support of suicide bombers and against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during online chats they had, mostly in 2006. He said Mehanna had even said that he sought terrorism training in Yemen and that he spoke of giving a "blood donation," or joining the jihad. Under Bassil's questioning yesterday, Aboubakr acknowledged that he often started conversations with Mehanna about a book or a song promoting jihad. Bassil said, "You participated in these conversations. And it's only after you got that grand jury, that summons, that you're saying, 'Oh, I did this because of Tarek." Aboubakr agreed that often he was joking, and he said that the term jihad is a general phrase meant to signify the struggle of Muslims to defend and spread Islam. Bassil said, "It's not a brand new word. It's thousands of years old. It's this concept of defending Islam from people who would attack it." Aboubakr concurred. Bassil also argued that the sources and verses Mehanna spoke of and distributed were classical texts that described the historical struggles of Muslims. Bassil said, "You agree that the two of you wanted to continue to seek knowledge of your religion? It wasn't about going to seek death as a martyr, was it?" Aboubakr said it wasn't. Bassil argued that Mehanna talked of defending Muslims because of concerns about the wars against them in Chechnya and Bosnia, as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was particularly upset by the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Iraq, as well as Abu Ghraib. Under Bassil's questioning, Aboubakr said, "I can't recall a time where watching the videos actually led to [Mehanna] saying, 'Well, we have to actually get up and do something.'" |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 Islam isn't thousands of years old It just seems that way to, say, Copts. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-11-05 13:34 |
| #1 Aboubakr agreed that often he was joking, and he said that the term jihad is a general phrase meant to signify the struggle of Muslims to defend and spread Islam. Bassil said, "ItÂ’s not a brand new word. ItÂ’s thousands of years old. ItÂ’s this concept of defending Islam from people who would attack it." well, our genius scholar either doesn't know his Mo history, or he's a math moron (and not the good kind). Islam isn't thousands of years old, dipshit |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-11-05 12:20 |