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"This isn't over....This is bigger than Tarek and it's bigger than his family. It affects all of you reading this....Tarek, we stand with you, helping to bear" up against state oppression. "When we share our struggle, we are never alone."
Those who know Mehanna call him "humble, reserved, warm, compassionate, intelligent, charismatic, well-read, and dedicated." He challenges injustice, advocates for Muslim prisoners, and helps people in need.
No matter. He'll spend the next 17.5 years in prison for doing the right thing. Obama prosecutors call it terrorism or conspiracy to commit it. It's the wrong time to be Muslim in America. Moreover, we're all as vulnerable as Tarek.
Mehanna's Sentencing Statement
"I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how -- according to the United Nations -- over half a million children perished as a result.""I remember a clip from a '60 Minutes" interview of Madeline Albright where she expressed her view that these dead children were 'worth it.' I watched on September 11th as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children."
"I watched as America then attacked and invaded Iraq directly. I saw the effects of shock and awe in the opening day of the invasion -- the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking but of their foreheads."
"I learned about the town of Haditha, where 24 Muslims -- including a 76-year old man in a wheelchair, women, and even toddlers -- were shot up and blown up in their bedclothes as the slept by US Marines. I learned about Abeer al-Janabi, a fourteen-year old Iraqi girl gang-raped by five American soldiers, who then shot her and her family in the head, then set fire to their corpses."
"I just want to point out, as you can see, Muslim women don't even show their hair to unrelated men. So try to imagine this young girl from a conservative village with her dress torn off, being sexually assaulted by not one, not two, not three, not four, but five soldiers."
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