Court papers released Wednesday, filed to support a new federal complaint charging Tarek Mehanna with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, offered more details about the man the FBI has painted as a terrorist since his initial arrest last year on charges he lied to investigators. At the same time, the records further confused family members and friends who have long questioned how the 27-year-old from Sudbury, who only months ago released a picture of himself with a kitten, titled, “The Love of My life,'' could plan a deadly attack on Americans. “You could see the kindness in his eyes,'' said a neighbor, Cafic Maalouf, 47, who lives down the street from Mehanna and saw him recently as he was out mowing the family's lawn. Another neighbor, Paul McManus, said: “He was everyday normal. When he was out walking, he was friendly, neighborly.'' Mehanna lives in a sprawling home in a cul-de-sac off Hudson Road in Sudbury with his mother, Souad, and father, Ahmed. His mother runs a licensed day care there. State officials said they have had no day care-related complaints in the past, but will be looking into whether the setting is appropriate. A recent graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, where his father is a professor, Mehanna had planned a career as a pharmacist, after working as a pharmacy intern at Walgreens in Marlborough from 2006 to 2008. In an informal interview with the Boston Globe several months ago and in statements through his lawyer, Mehanna was quick to deny the charges, and he accused federal investigators of targeting him with trumped-up charges because they were trying to turn him into a government informant. A federal indictment released last year revealed little of what the government knew of Mehanna and only seemed to blur the line between the terrorist alleged by the government and someone from the general Muslim community, his supporters said. “They're kind of painting the wrong picture of the Muslim community,'' a supporter said last year. Supporters cited his work with youth, as a teacher at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland. He was a young pharmacist in the making, following in his father's footsteps. Abdul Cader Asmal, a past president of the center, recalled sharing Superman comics with the young man, who later played guitar in high school and listened to metal music such as Pantera. In between, he gave lectures at Friday night services in Worcester and translated poetic Arabic scriptures into English. But through the years, Mehanna seemed to grow more dedicated to his beliefs, and eventually he connected with figures who seemed to promote the extremist movement, according to court records and interviews with friends. Several years ago, he met Daniel Maldonado, a Massachusetts native who was convicted two years ago of undergoing terrorist training. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Mehanna has told the Globe he met Maldonado at a Lowell mosque in 2003, but could not say where. In the interview earlier this year, Mehanna did not deny his support of violence for a Muslim cause. However, he seemed to draw a line at the random killing of civilians and said he wished the American news media would learn the difference. But, the court records said, Mehanna knew no line. According to recorded conversations, he approved of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and supported American deaths in Iraq. He allegedly watched downloaded videos of “jihad” in his Sudbury home, and referred to Muslims living in America as “house slaves.'' Much of the material in court records refers to a blog he wrote. While some have seen his passages as poetic, others have referred to him as the “Al Qaeda blogger.'' Federal investigators allege he used the blog to promote terrorism, a possible crime. One blog was titled, “39 Ways to Support Jihad,'' in reference to a popular book that a Congressional Committee has identified as a cause to action for fundamentalists.
