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| Mosque Board Votes to Place Indicted Imam on Leave |
| 2004-01-21 |
| An Islamic leader accused of concealing alleged ties to terrorist groups to gain U.S. citizenship was ordered by his mosque’s trustees to take a leave of absence. Imam Fawaz Mohammed Damrah was charged last week with obtaining U.S. citizenship by providing false information. The indictment alleges he was a member or had links to several groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and concealed those affiliations when he applied for citizenship. He has pleaded innocent and is free on $160,000 bail. If convicted, he could lose his citizenship and face up to five years in prison. And then get booted out of the country. Trustees of the Islamic Center of Cleveland voted Monday to place Damrah on a paid leave of absence while he defends himself. "We support the imam as a person, but our obligation is to "No, I’m the imam here. I’m not leaving and you can’t make me!" A board member said supporters are pushing for a vote of the general membership. Yes, I’d like to see a show of hands. At a rally Friday, Damrah said the charges against him are part of "blatant targeting" of Islamic leaders by the In case you hadn’t noticed, Mohammed, you are being granted your civil rights. You have been publicly charged with a crime and granted bail. You will have a attorney and a trial where you can answer the charges against you. If you lose, you can appeal. You won’t find those rights available to you in many Arab countries. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 ...Man, the old home town just ain't what it used to be. Ladies in South Euclid lying about finding lottery tickets, the Grand Imam of Cleveland gets busted (his pink flamingo in the yard probably had a burka), and the Indians are regular contenders. I'm gonna have to take a few days, get up to the Sportsman on E.9th and St. Clair, get a Reuben, and try to figure this out.... Okay - all humor aside, I remember the Muslim community in Cleveland actually being out on the East Side - Beachwood, Eastlake, in through there, and usually they were well paid professionals who had assimilated quite nicely - they just went to a different church than we did, that's all. Wondering how this guy got in there. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-1-21 1:36:39 PM |