|
Who is Tarek Mehanna?
Tarek Mehanna is a 27 year old American-born Muslim Egyptian. Highly educated, he holds a doctorate in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He is a devout, tolerant Muslim who is not only respected in the local Islamic and interfaith communities, but who also gives back to his community by fulfilling the roles of brother, educator, mentor, scholar, and friend. Tarek is described by those who know him well as humble, reserved, warm, peaceful, charismatic, knowledgeable, and dedicated.
For several years Tarek has been a victim of FBI surveillance and harassment. When Tarek refused to backstab the Mus
lim community and be an informant for the FBI, they continually threatened him before taking an opportunity to arrest him in 2008. While Tarek was out on bail, FBI agents raided his home with an arrest warrant on October 21st, 2009.
Tarek was arrested again despite the lack of any new evidence since the prior apprehension. He is currently being held in solitary confinement, facing accusations of aiding and abetting terrorism. All of these FALSE charges have been fabricated by paid FBI informants. We ask you to join us to support our brother until he is released and home with his loving family.
In his own words:
Bismillah, was-Salama ‘alayki wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh;
I will try to answer your questions as well as I can.
I was arrested at my house in the morning, on October 21st. I had just finished making wudu’ for Fajr prayer and was going into my room to pray sunnah when the doorbell rang, followed by a series of loud knocks. My father, who had just gotten dressed for work, was startled at first, but knew who it was. He opened the door, and my house was suddenly filled with about a dozen FBI agents coming up to my room. They were extremely disrespectful to my father as they addressed him. As my mother emerged from the bedroom, I motioned for them to join me in Fajr prayer despite the presence of the FBI agents. So, we stood there and prayed in my room with the agents looking on (maybe they learned a thing or two). I then hugged my parents before I was handcuffed and led down the stairs and out into a waiting police cruiser. I was told that after I was gone, my cat ran down to the door and sat there waiting for me to come back. Loyal animals, ma sha’Allah (awww….).
I was then taken to the local police station and booked, had a mugshot and fingerprints taken, and called home for a few minutes. It was still barely 7:00AM. It was easier to calm my mother down this time because we had been through all of this before around the same time last year.
(Click here to read the rest of Tariq’s letter)
|
