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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel asks deported imam about Islamic Jihad |
| 2007-01-11 |
| Israeli authorities who arrested the former imam of Ohio's largest mosque after he was deported from a jail in Monroe County, Mich., have questioned him about the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, his attorney said Thursday. Fawaz Damra, 46, was arrested because of ties authorities say he had 15 years ago with Islamic Jihad, said Smadar Ben-Natan, Damra's Israeli lawyer. Islamic Jihad, which is responsibly for numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis, is classified by Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization, Ben-Natan met her client for the first time on Wednesday at the Kishon prison in northern Israel and said he was being treated well. She said she would appeal his arrest later Thursday. Damra, 46, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus, was deported by U.S. authorities last week because he was convicted of concealing his ties to terrorist groups when he applied for American citizenship in 1994. During his trial in 2004, jurors were shown evidence that Damra raised money for the organization, along with footage of a 1991 speech in which he called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs." He later apologized for making anti-Semitic statements. Relatives expecting him to enter the West Bank on Friday reported he never showed up. Ben-Natan said he was apprehended by Israeli authorities at the Allenby crossing with Jordan and taken into custody. Israel's internal security service, the Shin Bet, confirmed Tuesday that Damra, 46, was arrested because of his ties to Islamic Jihad. It provided no other details. On Wednesday, an Israeli judge extended Damra's detention by 15 days, Ben-Natan said. Ben-Natan said authorities say Damra had contacts with the Islamic Jihad took place in 1991. He said that Damra was unaware the money was going to the militant organization. Damra, whose wife and three daughters remain in the U.S., served as the imam, or religious leader, of the Islamic Center of Cleveland. Despite a campaign by his family and supporters to keep him in the U.S., Damra was deported after spending a year in the Michigan jail. His relatives in the U.S. said they hadn't been notified he had been deported, and found out only when his lawyer arrived at the jail and found him gone. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 I have a neon generator that works wonders on the pigeons. [I'd be only too happy to loan it to Shin Bet, just call plz] |
| Posted by: RD 2007-01-11 12:59 |
| #1 With a field phone, one hopes. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-01-11 12:41 |