FBI accuses man of lying in terror case - Sudbury resident arrested on way to job overseas

Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.

Mehanna, 26, who was living in a sprawling house in Sudbury with his parents, is charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government.

An FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Boston Monday alleges that Mehanna told agents on Dec. 16, 2006, that he had known Maldonado for three or four years and that when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier, Maldonado was living in a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, and working for a website.

But Maldonado had actually placed several calls from Somalia to Mehanna's Sudbury home four days before the FBI interview, urging him to "join him in training for jihad," the affidavit says.

After Maldonado's capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who fretted about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit.

"When the FBI asked me where Dan was . . . I told them he was still in Egypt . . . and he had called me the day before that from Somalia," Mehanna told the witness, according to the affidavit. "That's very bad. I don't know how the heck I'm gonna explain that one."

The affidavit says Mehanna was recorded saying, "I don't ever remember if he said the word Somalia on the phone, but that's a problem because, like, lying to them in and of itself is a crime."...

frequently posts English language translations of classical Islamic texts and rulings in support of violent jihad.

Sayaba frequently lends vocal support on his blog to terrorist groups around the world painting a picture of them as true Muslims following the example of the early followers of Muhammad in a defensive war against infidels and apostates out to stamp out the true understanding Islam and out to oppress Muslims. The translated texts are used to bolster the argument that the violent jihad ideology represents this true form of Islam.

According to commenters who claim to know him, Abu Sayaba was a frequent protester at hearings regarding Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui was captured in Afghanistan, suspected of being an al Qaeda financier, and is accused of attempted murder. According to this post, Sayaba was in the audience at one of Siddiqui's hearings...