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| Home Front: WoT |
| Ohio |
| 2005-11-25 |
| CLEVELAND - Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for his ties to terrorist groups. Imam Fawaz Damra, the spiritual leader of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. That conviction was upheld in March, clearing the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings. Damra, 44, was arrested early Friday without incident, the immigration office said. "It is clear that this person, Mr. Damra, believed in terrorism, supported terrorism," said Brian Moskowitz, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's office in Detroit. "This is not a man of peace or a man of God." No, Damra is an imam for Allah. Got that straight, Moskowitz? Damra's conviction for naturalization fraud wasn't enough to warrant deportation because he has legally lived in the United States for five years. WTF??? Immigration officials are seeking to remove him because he raised funds for terrorist organizations, Moskowitz said. A message seeking comment from Damra's attorney, Mark Flessner, was not immediately returned. Damra is being held in Detroit by federal authorities. A bond hearing was expected to take place next week before an immigration judge in Detroit. The Palestinian-born Damra, who is the imam, or spiritual leader, at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s. In Damra's trial last year, prosecutors showed video footage of Damra and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989. Jurors also were shown footage in which Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" Koran Chapter 5, verse 60 during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech. U.S. District Judge James Gwin sentenced the Palestinian-born cleric to two months in prison and four months in home detention. Damra served the prison time from November 2004 to January of this year. Gwin also stripped Damra's citizenship but informed prosecutors they could not begin deportation proceedings until after the appellate ruling. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #3 No he'll be held in stir. They wouldn't have arrested him, just served him with a subpoena, otherwise. He's gone. One way or another, since they've labeled his activities as terr-related, he's gone. What I find at least somewhat encouraging is that this is not isolated. There has been a fairly steady (growing?) stream of stories about groups and imams being nabbed and charged with a crime or deported. The LE crap is slower than molasses, but they are doing something. Dan could probably reel off a string of these things, from grabbing the Lodi bunch, the guys up in Wash State who had rented a farm for training / safe house, the jihadi literature and textbooks in the moskkks and schools in the East, Rice ramping up the rhetoric and delivering messages directly, the congressional hearings on the Saudis - issuing statements and charges and challenges sans the usual kid gloves... things are slowly heating up. Too slow for me, yeah, but not the same old shit, either. Just my take on the last 4-5 months. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-11-25 18:46 |
| #2 Begin Deporation Proceedings? Does that mean they will give him a notice to appear in court and then release him? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-11-25 18:32 |
| #1 "That conviction was upheld in March, clearing the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings..." "Begin deportation proceedings"???? And how long is that stupid charade going to drag on, may I ask? Nevermind. If we were really serious about dealing with the menace of Islam, this "spiritual leader" would have been hung from the nearest goddamn lamppost months ago in public. Pour encourager les autres, of course... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2005-11-25 18:28 |