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TAMPA - Lawyer John Fitzgibbons notified a judge this morning that he officially is representing a University of South Florida student accused of helping terrorists. Fitzgibbons also notified the court that his client, Ahmed Mohamed, is pleading not guilty to charges of illegally transporting explosives and trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives. Mohamed waived his right to an arraignment, entering the plea by mail. The high-profile lawyer's clients have included a teacher who had sex with a student, an "American Idol" contestant involved in a dispute at Hyde Park Café and a restaurant owner...

One of two Muslim USF students facing federal explosives charges continues to wait to be released on bond By 970WFLA.com Friday, October 5, 2007 TAMPA, Fla. (970 WFLA) – A federal judge will take his time on ruling whether or not one of two Muslim University of South Florida students will be allowed out on bail while awaiting trial on charges he transported explosives across state lines without a license. U.S. prosecutors filed appeal following a federal magistrate judge allowed Youseff Samir Megahed, 21, to be released on $200,000 bond. Megahed and his alleged co-conspirator, Ahmed Mohamed, were arrested in...

An odd video raises new questions about the USF students who caused a national security scare. Ahmed Mohamed and Yousef Megahed are already charged with driving explosives across state lines. Now prosecutors say Megahed's brother tried to send a sinister code through a jail-house camera.

As his son appeared in federal court on explosives charges, Samir Megahed struggled with the overwhelming strain of the prosecution and family problems. 'We're under big stress,' the 60-year-old said in a telephone interview. Megahed said he is recovering from a heart attack he suffered 11 days ago. 'I am good now,' he said. On Monday, he said, his 68-year-old brother died in Egypt. Samir Megahed is unable to travel to be with his brother's family because he is hoping his son, Youssef, will be released on bail. One of the conditions of a bail order is that the entire...

TAMPA - As his son appeared in federal court on explosives charges, Samir Megahed struggled with the overwhelming strain of the prosecution and family problems. 'We're under big stress,' the 60-year-old said in a telephone interview. Megahed said he is recovering from a heart attack he suffered 11 days ago. 'I am good now,' he said. On Monday, he said, his 68-year-old brother died in Egypt. Samir Megahed is unable to travel to be with his brother's family because he is hoping his son, Youssef, will be released on bail. One of the conditions of a bail order is that...

TAMPA, Fla. — Egypt's government is paying for the legal representation of a college student who authorities say was found with pipe bombs near a Navy base, an attorney said Wednesday. Attorney John Fitzgibbons told a judge he was in talks with the Egyptian embassy in Washington and likely will be hired to represent suspended University of South Florida student Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed. Ahmed el-Qawassni, an official in Egypt's foreign ministry, said the government is closely monitoring the case and confirmed that an attorney is being hired for Mohamed, who was born in Kuwait to Egyptian parents. "We are...

COLUMBIA, S.C. --A college student facing a terrorism-related charge made a video showing how to detonate explosives using a remote control toy, and the demonstration was uploaded to a popular Web site before the native of Kuwait was arrested in South Carolina, according to court documents.

In a 12-minute video posted on YouTube, an Egyptian man wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and rubber gloves explains in Arabic how to turn a toy boat into a bomb.

The plot thickens. Read the St. Petersburg Times: (Hat tip - reader Lynne) Well, well, well: PVC pipe filled with homemade “low-grade explosive mixture” and a videotape instruction for turning a remote-controlled toy car into a detonator were among the items found in the car driven by two University of South Florida students arrested in South Carolina and now facing federal explosives charges, according to a federal prosecutor. An assistant U.S Attorney outlined the evidence confiscated from the car driven by two suspended USF students — describing a container and three pipes filled with a low grade explosive mixture. The...

Prosecutors: USF students had explosive materials, instructions. TAMPA - Pipes stuffed with fertilizer, Karo syrup and kitty litter. Bullets and fuses. A laptop with Internet searches about martyrdom, Hamas and Qassam rockets. Video instructions for turning a child's toy into a detonator. After weeks of silence, the U.S. Attorney's Office opened up about its case against two University of South Florida engineering students facing explosives charges, implying that Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed had something sinister in mind when they left Tampa in early August and headed north. Despite the grim implications of what the government presented, prosecutors said they...

TAMPA -- PVC pipe filled with homemade "low-grade explosive mixture'' and a videotape instruction for turning a remote-controlled toy car into a detonator were among the items found in the car driven by two University of South Florida students arrested in South Carolina and now facing federal explosives charges, according to a federal prosecutor...The list also included a videotape that instructs viewers on how to convert a toy electric car into a detonator. Defendant Ahmed Mohamed has admitted making the tape, and in it he says he intended the instruction "to save one who wants to be a martyr for...

Charleston, S.C. (AP) -- With a federal indictment in place, state charges will be dismissed against two Egyptian-born students who were stopped last month with what authorities said were pipe bombs, a prosecutor said Tuesday. "I plan to dismiss the charges in favor of federal prosecution," said Scarlett Wilson, state prosecutor for Charleston and Berkeley counties. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were arrested on state charges of possession of an explosive device following an Aug. 5 traffic stop in Goose Creek.

Remember those two Egyptian "students" arrested in South Carolina back in early August for possessing what CAIR spokesman Ahmed Bedier claimed were fireworks but turned out to be pipe bombs according to state authorities?  They've now been indicted by the Justice Department in Florida.Ahmed Mohammed is charged with teaching and demonstrating how to use explosives in support of terrorism.  Both he and his sidekick, Youssef Megahed, are charged with transporting explosives across state lines.  They had already been charged in South Carolina with possessing pipe-bombs.  At the time of their arrest, they were in Goose Creek, about seven miles away...

  Indicted USF Student has Terror Past in Egypt by IPTIPT News August 31, 2007Two Egyptian students enrolled at the University of South Florida have been indicted for carrying explosive materials across states lines. One of the defendants also is charged with teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons.Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives.According to officials familiar with the case, Mohamed has been arrested previously in Egypt on terrorism-related charges. He is said to have...

Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida were indicted Friday for carrying explosive materials across states lines and one of them was charged with teaching the other how to use them for violent reasons. Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 24, an engineering graduate student and teaching assistant at the Tampa-based university, faces terrorism charges for teaching and demonstrating how to use the explosives. He and Youssef Samir Megahed, 21, an engineering student, were stopped for speeding in Goose Creek, S.C., on Aug. 4, where they have been held on state charges. The two men were stopped with pipe bombs...

TAMPA - A federal grand jury in Tampa is asking for DNA and hair samples from a University of South Florida student jailed four weeks ago in South Carolina on explosives charges, his attorney said. Andrew Savage said in a phone interview Wednesday night that he had no indication why the samples were being sought from his client, Youssef Megahed. *snip* ...Megahed and Mohamed[,] were pulled over for speeding in South Carolina on Aug. 4 about seven miles from the Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station, which houses a military prison for enemy combatants. The men were charged with possession of...

I checked the title, and didn't find it posted. ~~~~~~~~~ Update: Yahia Megahed’s Hi5 profile is gone 6:20pm Eastern. Eeenteresting. Via Dan Riehl, Yahia Megahed’s Hi5 profile has now been removed: *** Last weekend, I noted the arrest of Yousef Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, in the vicinity of the Naval Weapons Station, located in Goose Creek, South Carolina. National media scrutiny since the men were charged with possession of pipe bombs has been scant. Some MSM reports read like CAIR press releases. The AP dispatch carried in the Miami Herald concludes: “Some have suggested the men were targeted...

FBI agents are reviewing surveillance video from a Wal-Mart store in connection with the arrest in South Carolina of two University of South Florida students, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said. Agents also have seized a computer from the family home of one of the students, said a local advocate in contact with the family. Youssef Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, both of whom are enrolled at the university, were charged Monday under South Carolina statutes with possession of an incendiary or explosive device. Both were being held in a Berkeley County jail Wednesday. Mohamed's bail was set at $500,000 and...

Washington - Local police outside Charleston, South Carolina stopped a vehicle in which they found what were suspected to be explosives, according to media reports late Saturday. Two men described as being of possibly Middle Eastern origin were in the vehicle, which was stopped on a highway. A police bomb squad was at the scene and preparing to examine the vehicle, a local television reported told the Cable News Network (CNN).

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - A high school principal announced his resignation Monday after coming under fire over a November drug sweep in which police with guns drawn ordered students to the floor. "I realized it is in the best interest of Stratford High School and of my students for me to make a change," George McCrackin said in a statement. School officials asked Goose Creek police to come into the school Nov. 5 after receiving reports of marijuana sales on campus. Police said dogs sniffed drug residue on 12 book bags but found no drugs. No one was arrested. The...