Week 3 of trial, keep up the support for Tarek Mehanna!

WHERE: Moakley Federal Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Boston MA

WHEN: Monday-Friday 9am-1pm (through end the of trial)

Monday, November 7 will begin the third week in the trial of Dr.
Tarek Mehanna. Dr. Mehanna is being prosecuted on false charges of
"material support for terrorism" because of his principled refusal to
act as an informant for the FBI, for his outspoken opposition to US
wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq, and for his
leadership in opposing repressive policies against Muslims in the US
and elsewhere.

We would like to thank everyone who came to court on October 27 for
opening statements in the trial, and all those who have continued to
show their support for Dr. Mehanna over the course of the second
week. The court was forced to open two overflow rooms to accommodate
the strong showing of support at the start of trial; the courtroom
has continued to be full of supporters at the end of the second week.
This show of support is both a testament to Dr. Mehanna's history of
service to the community and also to the outrageousness of the case
against him.

We are sending out this message to urge people to keep up the
support. It's important to show that the community is with Dr.
Mehanna to the end. Since the trial is expected to last 6-8 weeks,
please consider choosing at least one day each week to attend. Please
RSVP to FreeTarek@gmail.com with days you
plan on attending. (Please note that this Friday November 11th is not
a court day because its a federal holiday, Veterans Day)


People who've been in court to date have seen the falsehood of the
government's charges progressively unmasked. Highlights include:

--Assistant US Attorney Chakravarty's claim to the jury--in
contravention to settled constitutional law-- that translating the
publicly available document "39 Ways to Serve and Participate in
Jihad" is "material support for terrorism;"

--Government agents who executed a "sneak and peak search" of Tarek's
room and computer claiming expertise in identifying "jihadi"
materials, but who were unable to recognize the simplest and most
common Arabic phrases and who seemed to think that the flag of the
government of Saudi Arabia was a "terrorist" symbol;

--The revelation that the first cooperating witness, who was granted
an immunity order, was threatened at the time of his initial grand
jury testimony by the infamous Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey
Auerhahn, who told him that he had better "improve his memory".
(Auerhahn is the prosecutor who was found in the past to have coerced
a cooperating witness into giving false testimony against an innocent
defendant--details at
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_63862.shtml

.)

Up to date reports on the trial can be found at
freetarek.wordpress.com . More
background on Tarek's case and the campaign to defend him can be
found at www.freetarek.com