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U.S. Bars Leader of Chicago Muslim Group
CHICAGO - The head of a U.S.-based Muslim group said he was stopped at Ireland's Shannon Airport after a three-week visit to Jordan and told he could not return to the United States.

Sabri Samirah, president of the United Muslim Americans Association in Palos Hills, outside Chicago, said Sunday he still had not learned exactly why immigration officials denied him permission to return after visiting his parents in Jordan.

He said they cited a fax from Brian Perryman, the Immigration and Naturalization Service director in Chicago, revoking his permission to leave the country.

"I am waiting for more details from the INS about why they decided to bar me from going back to my home, my family and my work," Samirah said in a telephone interview from his parents' home in Jordan. "I am here in Jordan and my hands are tied and I feel very powerless."

"They said he was a security risk, but they never explained what the risk is," said Manal El-Hrisse, spokeswoman for Samirah's political advocacy group.

The INS has not commented specifically about Samirah's case but has said in general that people who have applied for but not received permanent residency, even those with the "advanced parole" papers Samirah said he received to travel, are not guaranteed re-entry into the United States.

Calls to the Chicago INS office on Sunday by The Associated Press went unanswered.

Samirah, 36, of Orland Park, said that just over a week ago Irish authorities held him in a cell overnight and told him he could either buy a return ticket to Jordan or remain in jail for days or weeks "until an Irish judge decides what to do with you."

He said his lawyers in Chicago were trying to persuade INS officials to let him return.

Samirah said he had lived in the United States for 15 years and had not returned to Jordan since 1990, in part to give U.S. officials time to investigate him and determine that he was not a threat to the United States.

"Political groups that do not agree with my opinions started spreading rumors that I had links to illegal groups," he said. "I am aware the INS and FBI investigated and they found nothing because I have the cleanest of records."

Some quick googling of Dr. Sabri Samirah:

1. He is the American-educated president of UMAA, which seems to be an established political association in Illinois. They have had some legislative success, including a law regulating Halal foods in Illinois, signed by Gov. Ryan in April 2001.

2. Dr. Samirah is also listed as the chairman of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) in this article, which discusses possible IAP links to Hamas and bin Laden.

3. The issue of Palestine seems to hang heavily on Dr. Samirah:

‘Samirah finds this renewed energy encouraging, but he acknowledges that even the urgency Jews and Muslims feel to get along better hasn't been enough to break through their long-standing problems. "We have different opinions," Samirah says. "The most important [for Muslims (sic) is our struggle in Palestine."’

3. One name that came up a lot in my quick search was that of Ray Hanania, who is a Chicago-based Palestian-American writer and comedian (?). His website has a cached page that lists the Arab-American associations in Chicago with this interesting info...Palestinians from the Town of Ramallah constitute nearly 50 percent of all the Palestinians who live in the Chicago area.
Posted by: Seafarious 2003-01-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=9638