SMiles Lewis

Hasan Minhaj’s Brush with Counter-Terrorism in 2002

A few Sundays ago, my wife and I went out for an entertainment event for the first time since the pandemic lockdowns began in March of 2020. We bought the tickets to see comedian Hasan Minhaj (of PATRIOT ACT show fame) months ago. It was the first time we’d been in a crowd of any size; there were undoubtedly thousands at this very restrictive (vaccination / negative covid test required and cellphones bagged) event at the Long Center across from Auditorium Shores here in Austin.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the show and Hasan’s very personal stories about becoming a father at the same time as he was becoming a social media comedic-activist-icon.

Besides hearing about the dangers to his family’s safety resulting from his work on his PATRIOT ACT show – particularly his fears concerning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – he also described an incident from his childhood in 2002 that he says spurred his aspirations of becoming a comedian. 

Hasan related his childhood experience of with an extreme body-builder fellow who wanted to convert to Islam and joined the Mosque that his family attended. He told of how obvious it was that this non-Muslim was an infiltrating law-enforcement provocateur who was trying to spur young Muslim kids into confessing to wanting to commit acts of terrorism. Hasan went on to describe the police and anti-terror task force descending on he and his friends after he (Hasan) decided to prank the obvious government shill … all of which convinced Hasan of the power of humor to strike back against those who would abuse their power and influence as this infiltrator (and so many more, as it turns out) had done. 

He went so far as to show clips of the CNN news reports on these and other such FBI infiltration campaigns, including a report which specifically showed the body-builder agent~!

As someone who has reported for decades (with great concern for the implications for our country’s soul) about such FBI-entrapment efforts, this story was not surprising, and it made me very happy to know that someone directly effected by one of these ludicrous efforts had used it to turn his life towards a path of empowering himself and others against such discriminatory tyranny.

 – SMiles Lewis

For more on these types of FBI entrampment cases, see the links below.

For more on Hasan’s tour, visit: The King’s Jester with Hasan Minhaj

US citizens v FBI: Will the government face charges for illegal surveillance?

Muslim citizens are suing the FBI for subjecting them to undercover surveillance after 9/11 in violation of rights

by Ed Pilkington, Sunday 7 Nov 2021 / SOURCE: TheGuardian.com

See also:

• The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism by Trevor Aaronson

Interviews with the author by Scott Horton:

• 9/25/20 Trevor Aaronson on the FBI’s Latest Fake Terrorism Entrapment Scheme
• 10/25/19 Trevor Aaronson on the FBI’s Unconstitutional Investigative Powers
• 5/3/17 Trevor Aaronson on terrorism-related trials, FBI entrapment, and criminal justice since 9/11
• 08/23/11 – Trevor Aaronson – The Scott Horton Show
• FBI Could Also Have Thwarted WTC ’93