Ex-friend says goal was terror training

He and Mehanna traveled to Yemen

By Milton J. Valencia

Source The Boston Globe

A once-close friend of Tarek Mehanna testified yesterday in Mehanna’s terrorism-conspiracy trial that the two of them and a third man conspired to travel to Yemen in search of terrorism training in 2004.

They also discussed domestic terrorist plots, such as a mass shooting at a Massachusetts Air Force base, a shopping mall, and even the assassination of top US officials, all in the name of jihad, according to the testimony in US District Court in Boston.

“We had to do something,’’ said Kareem Abuzahra, who said he was part of the terrorism conspiracy but cooperated with authorities and agreed to testify against Mehanna in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

When asked what “do something’’ meant, he responded: “Participate in jihad against the US. It was our duty. Defending Muslims and defending jihad.’’

Abuzahra, a computer science professional from Lynnfield, was a key prosecution witness in the case against Mehanna. For more than an hour yesterday, he traced a timeline from when he and Mehanna grew more devoted to Islam in 2000 to when they discussed acquiring weapons from a friend in 2003 to carry out a local attack.

Abuzahra acknowledged that he, Mehanna, and a third associate had scrapped the plan to carry out a mass shooting. Defense attorneys are expected to argue during a cross-examination of Abuzahra that Mehanna opposed an attack in the United States on religious grounds.

But prosecutors hoped to use Abuzahra’s testimony to establish that Mehanna and his closest associates had considered acting against the United States, to the point they planned to go to Yemen to seek paramilitary training in a terrorist camp.

“Eventually, the goal was to get into Iraq,’’ Abuzahra said.

Abuzahra said their cover story was that they were going to Yemen to explore Islamic language schools, a scenario he described when he was questioned by the FBI in summer 2006. But he later agreed to cooperate with authorities because, “I realized the interest in me by the government was more than I originally expected.’’

Mehanna, 29, an American citizen who lived with his parents in Sudbury, faces life in prison if convicted of charges of conspiracy to support terrorists and to kill in a foreign country and of lying to FBI investigators.

Prosecutors say he traveled to Yemen for terrorist training so that he could fight US soldiers in Iraq. He failed to find a camp and returned to the United States two weeks later. But prosecutors say he had a new strategy, to support Al Qaeda by promoting the terrorist organization’s ideology.

Mehanna used his fluency in Arabic to translate and distribute materials promoting jihad on the Internet.

His defense attorneys argue that Mehanna was a young, budding scholar devoted to the academics and laws of his religion. They do not deny that he distributed controversial materials on the Internet, but said he was simply expressing his own, constitutionally protected beliefs.

Defense attorneys argue that Mehanna traveled to Yemen solely to find schools. A third man, Ahmad Abousamra, told others he was going in search of jihad, and ultimately traveled to Iraq, the defense lawyers acknowledge. But they argue that Mehanna should not be held responsible for the actions of an associate.

Abuzahra never traveled to Yemen and did not say why during his direct testimony yesterday. But prosecutors have said that he returned to the United States during a layover in the United Arab Emirates after receiving a call saying his father was ill. His relationship with Mehanna frayed after the trip.

Abuzahra, 31, a father of two, spoke quickly and pointedly to the court. He said he has known Mehanna and his family since childhood, but that the two grew closer around 2000. He said he met Abousamra later that year.

They followed a conservative interpretation of their religion, and spoke of jihad, Abuzahra said. They backed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, because “Americans had been pushing around everyone for so long, this was a way to get back at them.’’

But it was not until the US invasion in Iraq in 2003, he said, that they began to speak seriously of jihad against the United States. He said he and Mehanna had discussed the possibility of entering Iraq, but believed it would be too difficult.

In 2003, Abuzahra said, Abousamra spoke generally of the possibility of killing former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and former US attorney general John Ashcroft.

Later, he said, they discussed acquiring weapons to shoot up a mall or Hanscom Air Force Base near Bedford.

“All three of you agreed, it’s not going to work,’’ Assistant US Attorney Aloke Chakravarty said, to which Abuzahra said yes.

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.