Where did Ahmad Abousamra learn his views of Islam and jihad? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? Or would it be “Islamophobic” to ask such a question?
“FBI adds Stoughton High grad to Most Wanted Terrorists List,” by Colneth Smiley Jr. and Laurel J. Sweet for the Boston Herald, December 18 (thanks to Kenneth):
A Stoughton High graduate and suspected al-Qaeda sympathizer with a distinctive high-pitched voice and $50,000 bounty on his head was today added to the FBI”s Most Wanted Terrorists List, the FBI said.
Fugitive Ahmad Abousamra, 32, who the feds believe may be hiding out in Aleppo, Syria, with family under a half-dozen aliases, is accused of fleeing the United States in 2006 and leaving his friend Tarek Mehanna, a pharmacist from Sudbury, to be tried alone on terrorism charges in U.S. District Court.
Mehanna, 31, is slated to be incarcerated at a federal slammer in Terre Haute, Ind., until 2024.
Abousamra has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Syria, according to the FBI, and can speak, read and write fluently in both English and Arabic.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Abousamra in 2009, charging him with “conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists; providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists; conspiracy to kill in a foreign county; conspiracy; and false statements,” according to a release from the federal law enforcement agency”s Boston division.
“Abousamra was indicted on a total of nine charges after taking multiple trips to Pakistan and Yemen where he allegedly attempted to obtain military training for the purpose of killing American soldiers overseas,” and “should be considered armed and dangerous,” said Vincent S. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI”s Boston office.
Abousamra is described as 5 feet 11 inches with a slim build, dark brown hair and brown eyes. His numerous aliases include: Ahmad Abou-Samra, Ahmad Abou, Ahmad Abou Samira, Ahmad Samra, Ahmad Abu Samra, and Ahmad Abou Samra.
Mehanna last month lost his appeal of his 2011 conviction on charges of conspiring to provide support to terrorists and conspiring to kill American soldiers overseas.
“Both men were self-radicalized and used the Internet to educate themselves,” said Special Agent Heidi Williams, a member of Boston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. “They came to it independently, but once they found each other, they encouraged each other’s beliefs.”
Williams said both Abousamra and Mehanna were not only inspired by the 9/11 terror attacks that killed thousands, “They celebrated it.”
Anyone with information as to Absousamra’s whereabouts is urged to contact the FBI”s Boston Division at 617-742-5533.