BOSTON — A man convicted of conspiring to help al Qaeda has written a letter to the judge who will sentence him, highlighting his work as a teacher and his plan -- before his arrest -- to set up a diabetes treatment clinic in Saudi Arabia.
Tarek Mehanna is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday. He was convicted in December of four terror-related charges and three charges of lying to authorities.
Prosecutors said he tried to help al Qaeda by translating and distributing publications and also tried unsuccessfully to get training at a terrorist camp in Yemen so he could fight U.S. soldier in Iraq.
Mehanna's attorneys say he should get no more than 6.5 years in prison.
In a letter attached to the defence sentencing memo, Mehanna tells the judge he wants to give him "snapshots" of his life.
