Former Staten Island resident Abdel Hameed Shehadeh was arrested last week and charged with making false statements in a matter involving international terrorism. Back in 2008, Shehadeh told FBI agents he was flying to Pakistan to attend a friend's wedding and to study. Due to the websites he created "dedicated to spreading violent jihadist ideology," he was put on the no-fly list. So in August "in a bid to get off the no-fly list—he admitted traveling to Pakistan to try to join the Taliban," according to the Daily News. Terrorism: you're doing it wrong.
Shehadeh was flagged by the FBI after that first attempt to go to Pakistan, but was not arrested until last week because his online advocacy for terrorist groups didn't include any conspiracy for violence. Shehadeh attempted to join the army after his flight to Pakistan (he was denied entry by Pakistani officials), but was turned down after they discovered he concealed his trip to Pakistan. Officials also questioned him after he tried to fly to Jordan (he was denied entry there, too), and once when he was still living in Staten Island in 2009. He said nothing incriminating.
Eventually, the FBI found witnesses to testify that Shehadeh wanted to go to Yemen and to Iraq to wage jihad on America, and had asked people to put porn on his computer to make it look less suspicious. He was arrested for lying to the government, and now faces up to eight years in prison.
On his website, Civil Jihad, he frequently posted videos of Osama bin Laden, and reportedly wrote Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hasan, saying, "Yaa Imam please come out with a new lecture. The Muslims of the west need a push." But friends and family say the man who was arrested is not the Shehadeh they knew. His cousin Kamelia Musleh told the Post, "He did get religion, but that has nothing to with bombing or trying to kill somebody. He's mad probably because of what is going on in Palestine. Nobody has been helping [the Palestinians] for years." Shehadeh's parents are both from Palestine. Musleh said, "It's a big shock. I guess he made new friends."
