FBI: Abousmara Linked to Convicted Terrorist

Ahmad Abousamra was an associate of Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury, who was convicted earlier this year on terrorism charges and is serving a 17 1/2 year sentence, according to the FBI.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Abousamra, who lived in Mansfield, is being offered by the FBI.

A statement from Special Agent Heidi Williams, a member of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, said, "They came to it independently, but once they found each other, they encouraged each other's beliefs,"

Williams also wrote they were inspired by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "They celebrated it," she said in a report on myfoxboston.com.

According the FBI, Abousamra, 31, and Mehanna traveled to Pakistan and Yemen to try to find a terrorist camp for miltary training to fight United States soldiers.

Abousarma, who graduated from Stoughton High in 1999 after attending Xaverian High School and has a college degree in computer technology, also attempted to join the Iraq troops to fight the United States, according to the charges, but FBI wasn't sure of his activities there. 

Indicted in 2009, Abousarma could be living in Aleppo, Syria, with his wife and at least one child, and family members, according to the FBI.

Abousamra hasn't been in the United States, since 2006, when according to the FBI, he fled the country after being interviewed.

A federal arrest warrant issued in November of 2009, Abousamra for nine charges, including...

-Conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists

-Providing material support to terrorists

-Conspiracy to kill in a foreign country

"We think that the indictment very clearly characterizes the very serious threat that (Abousamra) poses, and that's why we are initiating our world media campaign today to highlight our fugitive search for him," Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Jason Lydon of the The Tarek Mehanna Support Committee in the myfoxboston.com report said the $50,000 reward was part of a government campaign "to distract us all from the ongoing U.S. occupation and bombing of Muslim countries and the Islamophobic attacks on Muslims here in the United States.

"We support the right of Muslim people to defend themselves when under attack."

If you have any information on Abousamra, the FBI asks you to call 1-800-CALL- FBI or 617-742-5533, or go to  https://tips.fbi.gov. You can also go to your local FBI office or the nearest U.S. Embassy.

For more information go to: http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/19722241/2012/10/03/fbi-needs-publics-help-finding-wanted-fugitive-ahmad-abousamra#ixzz28H0EM8m3