When Osman Barre took the stand during his son Mohamed Mohamud’s trial he had one simple message: The FBI brainwashed my son.
Barre said that his son was suffering an identity crisis during the time that he was talking to the FBI and that federal agents brainwashed him into carrying out a terrorist plot against the United States.
According to Oregon Live , Barre, who was the first to take the stand after the prosecution put their case to rest, said that his son was having trouble adopting to American life. Mohamud also had trouble, according to his father, dealing with his parents divorce.
When the 17-year-old tried to leave the country Barre called the FBI. The teenager was found in Portland, Oregon and his parents took his passport away.
Barre said that the FBI agents, acting as terrorist contacts, later contacted his son and persuaded him to attack the United States. Boston.com reports that federal agents set up a sting where they presented Mohamud with a bomb. Mohamud was later arrested when he tried to detonate the bomb (which was fake) at a tree lighting ceremony in Portland.
Mohamud’s lawyers argued today that the teenager would have never committed an act of terrorism if the FBI didn’t push him to commit the crime.
When Barre was cross-examined about his comments he told prosecutor Ethan D. Knight: “Can I tell you the FBI brainwashed my son?”
