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| Judge invalidates search of indicted imam’s home |
| 2004-06-08 |
| A terrorist group’s manifesto and other items were taken in an illegal search of an Islamic cleric’s home and cannot be used at his trial on accusations that he concealed ties to terrorist organizations, a judge has ruled. U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin, in a decision filed late Monday, ruled in favor of a defense motion in the Jan. 13 search of the suburban Strongsville home of Fawaz Mohammed Damra, 41. FBI agents searched the home after the Palestinian-born imam was arrested there. Agents seized a computer, copies of sermons and political speeches, the manifesto of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and stacks of financial records. Assistant U.S. Attorney James V. Moroney Jr. said the manifesto was the only item from the search that the government intended to use at the trial. No decision was made immediately on whether to appeal the judge’s ruling, he said. Damra’s wife, Nasreen, was instructed to go to the basement during the arrest, apparently because she was upset, and the "uninvited lingering on the premises" by the agents after the arrest meant the search was unreasonable and therefore illegal, Gwin ruled. "The agents’ plan all along was apparently to prevent Nasreen Damra from knowing whether she had the right to ask them to leave," the judge said in a 16-page ruling. Damra, leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, has pleaded innocent to a charge of obtaining U.S. citizenship in 1994 by providing false information. He is accused of having connections with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other groups and not revealing them when he applied for citizenship. The trial is scheduled to begin next Tuesday in Akron. Damra also has been charged with tax evasion, money laundering, mail and wire fraud. |
| Posted by:TS(vice girl) |
| #3 Either we live in a society where the rule of law is respected or we turn into the Islamonutz---the police obviously did wrong |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2004-06-09 12:24:07 AM |
| #2 I am continually astonished at how Americans in particular, and people in general, permit themselves to be shamefully unversed in both law and medicine. If there are two fundamental spheres that permeate human life, they are legal and medical issues. Yet, somehow, people manage to remain blissfully unaware of such matters. For some time now, technological advances have supressed natural selection's ability to properly chlorinate the gene pool. So many who would once have been left at the village's edge when winter arrived are instead, farting through silk. Judges who intentionally promote "nanny state" legal gymnastics desperately need to find themselves on the business end of a plea bargained repeat offender's gun. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-06-08 9:42:48 PM |
| #1 "The agents’ plan all along was apparently to prevent Nasreen Damra from knowing whether she had the right to ask them to leave," the judge said in a 16-page ruling. Nasreen doesn't have much of an excuse. I was 10 years old when two cops were looking through the family garage for stolen bikes. Me - "Do you have a search warrant?" Them - "No." Me - "Then please leave." That's it. Know your rights. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-06-08 5:03:44 PM |