A convicted al-Qaeda sympathizer who conspired to commit mass killings of Americans at shopping malls was teaching kids at a New York City mosque, according to reports.
Tarek Mehanna, whom prosecutors say once vowed, according to the New York Post, to wage jihad against American citizens both domestically and in foreign countries, began teaching at the Muslim Community Center of Staten Island (MCC) in West Brighton in January. Mehanna taught Arabic and the Quran to children as young as four years old, prosecutors said. They said he also once traveled to the Middle East to train with al-Qaeda.
In a since-deleted Facebook post, Mohamed Bahi, a former senior advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the founder of the mosque, announced Mehanna’s hiring and the mosque’s grand opening. Mehanna’s photo was prominently featured, along with headshots of imams and other center officials.
The Post said Adams had visited the MCC in Brooklyn in the past.
Authorities say that Mehanna, 43, taught at the center four days a week for four hours per day.
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