Tarek Mehanna was convicted in 2011. Then in 2013, an appeals court upheld his conviction. Now he is appealing again, to the Supreme Court. Whether he wins or loses, he has tied up untold amounts of Infidel money and resources with these appeals, and that is a jihad in itself.
His lawyers say that he “didn’t give any tangible support to al-Qaida, and his online activities were protected free speech.” That is a supremely ironic defense in light of the fact that Abdul Cader Asmal, a self-described “friend and supporter” of Tarek Mehanna, brought about my cancellation from a conference last year in Worcester, Massachusetts. Free speech, you see, belongs only to Islamic jihadists, not to defenders of freedom and the equality of rights of all people before the law.
“Convicted Sudbury terrorist appeals to Supreme Court,” from the Associated Press, March 21:
BOSTON — A former volunteer teacher at a Muslim school in Worcester who was convicted in 2011 of trying to help al-Qaida has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld Tarek Mehanna’s conviction and 17½-year sentence in November.
A notice filed Thursday with the appeals court says Mehanna’s lawyers filed the request Monday with the Supreme Court.
Mehanna, of Sudbury, was convicted of four terror-related charges and three charges of lying to authorities.
Prosecutors said he traveled to Yemen seeking terrorist training and intended to fight U.S. soldiers in Iraq. When that failed, they said, he returned home and promoted violent jihad online.
Mehanna’s lawyers said he didn’t give any tangible support to al-Qaida, and his online activities were protected free speech….