Syed Haris Ahmed Trial: Background
As related in an article today in the Fulton County Daily Report, Syed Haris Ahmed's parents emigrated from Pakistan to the U.S. when Ahmed was 12. Ahmed's father, Syed Ahmed, was a computer engineer who earned his degree at the University of Evansville in Indiana, and moved his family to Georgia because of relatives living there. Ahmed senior taught at Kennesaw State University before becoming a professor at North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega. Ahmed has a sister who is married and lives in Pakistan.
The article reports that Ahmed had a slight lisp when he was young and was shy and often isolated from his classmates. The family lived in Marietta and later moved to Dawsonville, Georgia, where Ahmed attended high school and took college courses.
Ahmed's attorney, Jack Martin, told the Court that the family was not particularly religious, and that Ahmed was "left alone to find religion." At 19, Ahmed began to frequent Muslim chat rooms on the internet.
Martin told the Court that when Ahmed was offered a chance to enroll in a paramilitary camp during his trip to Pakistan, he changed his mind and returned to the United States.
