BOSTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Prosecutors say video of Osama bin Laden will be shown to jurors in the trial of a Massachusetts man charged with trying to distribute propaganda for al-Qaida.
Prosecutors allege Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury added English subtitles to a video speech promoting violent jihad given by bin Laden, who was killed in May by U.S. troops in Pakistan.
The video is one of dozens of visuals prosecutors received approval to present during opening statements Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston, The Boston Globe reported.
Prosecutors said the video would show Mehanna, a U.S. citizen, was conspiring to support al-Qaida by translating such materials and distributing them on the Internet.
Protesters demonstrated outside the courtroom in support of Mehanna, a popular young leader in the Boston's Muslim community who received a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the Globe reported.
Mehanna's lawyers contend any materials he promoted or distributed were legally permissible under the First Amendment right to free speech no matter how controversial they may have been.
