Lawyer: Mass. terror suspect charged after he rejected FBI requests to become informant

Lawyer: FBI asked Mass. suspect to be informant

BOSTON — The lawyer for a Massachusetts man accused of conspiring in an alleged terror plot says his client was charged only after he refused three attempts by the FBI to recruit him as an informant.

Tarek Mehanna (TEH’-rek Meh-HAH’-nah) was first arrested last November and charged with lying to the FBI. New, more serious charges were added last month, when Mehanna was accused of conspiring to shoot shoppers at U.S. malls, to kill two prominent politicians and to kill American soldiers in Iraq.

Mehanna’s lawyer on Thursday asked a federal judge in Boston to let Mehanna be released to home confinement while awaiting trial.

But a federal prosecutor argued that Mehanna is dangerous and should be held without bail.

The judge did not immediately rule.