Mohammad Hassan Hamdan, a Dearborn Muslim, was arrested on terrorism charges after trying to board a plane to Beirut.
Another devout Muslim “misunderstanding” Islam in the exact same way as millions of other Muslims.
Is law enforcement looking at his mosque and what they are teaching there? It doesn’t begin and end with just this one jihadi — he is but one small piece of a much larger war being waged on freedom and the West.
As for family and friends reacting with “disbelief” to this Hamdan’s arrest — color me skeptical. They knew him. He shared his admiration for genocidal Islamic groups and jihad. They know exactly who he is. Perhaps they too are sympathetic to waging war in the cause of Islam. His sister, for example, claims not to known anything, but she knew of his plans to fight with Hizballah and tried to stop him from going by taking his Lebanese passport.
Family members and members of the community who are covering up and lying for this would be killer should be arrested as well — on conspiracy charges. Aiding and abetting the enemy.
Notice that the media coverage is all about the family’s denial — not the blood and carnage this would-be killer hope to inflict.
“Friends, family doubt arrested Dearborn man was on way to join Hizballah”, Detroit Free Press, March 17, 2014 (thanks to Claude)
Friends and family of a Dearborn man reacted with tears and disbelief following his arrest at Metro Airport where federal officials charge he was about to depart for the Middle East to join the terrorist group Hizballah.
Gathered Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, those who know 22-year-old Mohammad Hassan Hamdan said the FBI is way off with this case, arguing the defendant — an asthmatic with only one functioning lung — has neither the will, desire nor the strength to do anything “so stupid.”
They believe he was set up by others, and said that if he ever did make comments about Hizballah, he was only trying to look suicidal for his former fiancé and that he was known for saying “stupid things.”
“Everything is wrong. He didn’t do anything,” Hanan Abboud, the defendant’s sister, said through tears in court Monday. “Please, someone is framing him. It’s very upsetting.”
Hamdan is a Lebanese national and legal U.S. resident who came here as a teenager in 2007 and was recently in the process of applying for citizenship. Federal records allege he was arrested at Metro Airport on Sunday night while trying to fly to Lebanon and on to Syria to fight on behalf of Hizballah, which is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces against the rebels in the Syrian civil war.
Hizballah is a designated terrorist organization under U.S. law, which makes it illegal to provide money, goods or services to a terrorist organization. Hamdan was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically Hizballah.
Hamdan, who appeared before U.S. Magistrate R. Steven Whalen on Monday, was ordered temporarily detained pending a hearing next Monday. As he left the courtroom, he blew his family and friends a kiss. The five supporters waved back.
“There is no way he could ever do something like that,” Ali Khashab, Hamdan’s friend, said of the allegations. “I see him almost every day. We go to soccer. There’s just no way.”
Another friend, Hussein Awda, also was baffled by the charges, saying Hamdan doesn’t fit the picture of a terrorist: He’s not religious. He hardly ever prays. He’s not political, he said.
“I’ve known him for a long time. We never think about doing something like that,” said Awda, who has known Hamdan since childhood. “We play around. We play soccer, smoke hookah sometimes. But that’s it.”
In court documents, the FBI tells a different story. According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the FBI learned of his plan to travel to Syria with the help of a confidential informant who contacted the agency last September and told them about Hamdan’s plan .
Hamdan’s sister knew of his plans to fight with Hizballah and tried to stop that from happening by taking his Lebanese passport, the documents said. She denies knowing of any such plan and said her brother was going to Lebanon to get a new passport.
According to court documents, here is what the informant told the FBI about Hamdan:
Hamdan told the informant he wanted to travel to Syria by Christmas 2013 to fight alongside Hizballah, but that he couldn’t leave because his sister had taken his Lebanese passport and wouldn’t give it back to him. The sister denies this.
Hamdan also told the informant that he wanted to become an active member of Hizballah and that he had previously been involved with the group during the war with Israel in 2006, one year before he immigrated to the U.S. He also told the informant that he had received military training from Hizballah, that it started at a very early age and that it included training on operating various weapon systems. Hamdan said that he would be paid between $500 and $1,000 a month by “the party,” meaning Hizballah, to fight in Syria.
In a conversation recorded by the FBI, Hamdan said to the informant: “I am leaving behind a family … my uncle’s tried to convince me (not to go) … but this is my decision and no one else’s.”
Hamdan said the timing of his trip to Lebanaon would depend on his ability to get a Lebanese or U.S. passport. To be able to apply for a temporary passport, he filed a police report March 4 with Dearborn Heights police saying his passport had been stolen.
His family said Monday that his passport had been stolen, and that’s why he was going to Lebanon.
On March 15, the FBI learned that Hamdan had booked a round-trip flight to Lebanon. The FBI said it doubted he planned to return to the U.S., noting he had given ownership of his vehicle to his sister and had asked the informant on Saturday to sell Hamdan’s work van and give the money to Hamdan’s family.
According to the criminal complaint, after his arrest, Hamdan denied any plans to join Hizballah or to fight Syria. He also denied ever telling anyone that he had such plans and said the purpose of his trip to Lebanon was to have dental work done.
Abboud, Hamdan’s sister, said her brother had no intentions of joining any terrorist group and was going to get a new passport.
“He’s innocent,” said Art Weiss, Hamdan’s lawyer. “And we’ll vigorously defend him and contest these charges.”
Pamela Geller is the Editor of PamelaGeller.com
