Inventing-Terrorists-study

about the phone call from Maldonado. Later the indictment was expandedto include conspiracy to give material support to terrorism by translatingradical Arabic writings into English and posting them on his website. Thegovernment earlier had “leaked” allegations that Mehanna and the othershad discussed attacking people in shopping malls in the U.S., but theindictment contained nothing about a conspiracy to shoot shoppers in amall.Mehanna was kept in solitary confinement while awaiting trial.Several FBI informants testified at his trial about statements he made,indicating his interest in jihad. Mehanna’s defense at trial was thateverything he had said was protected by free speech: he had not conspiredto engage in any crimes, and he had talked only in theory about rousingMuslims to defend themselves against attacks by imperialist invaders,including the U.S. Mehanna was convicted of material support forterrorism on December 20, 2012—essentially criminalizing free speech.At his sentencing, Mehanna gave an eloquent defense of his actionsthat may well become a classic. He noted that the Minutemen’s defense ofAmerican sovereignty was jihad, and that in studying history he learned ofmany important leaders from George Washington to Nelson Mandela toMalcolm X who had stood up for the underdog. Mehanna said he wassimply encouraging Muslims in the Middle East who were being killed andabused by foreign troops to stand up and defend themselves, as theAmericans had done with the British. He was sentenced to seventeen and ahalf years.In November 2013, Mehanna’s appeal was denied. Regarding histranslations, Mehanna’s lawyers and free speech advocates argued that hisactions were protected under the First Amendment. “The fundamentalB-25