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| Hafiz Saeed's brother awaits deportation hearing in US |
| 2007-03-04 |
| Imam Muhammad Masood, the brother of Hafiz Saeed of the Jamaatud Dawa who was arrested by federal immigration agents for visa violations and then released on bail, still does not know when his deportation hearing will take place. According to Masood, deportation could be a matter of life or death for him and other family members because his home country is “very dangerous now”, with widespread sympathy for a host of Islamic extremist groups – among them, one founded by his own brother, Haifz Saeed. “I have been a high-profile imam and I have rejected violence. That is not a very popular stand to take in some parts of Pakistan. Things have drastically changed ... radicalised,” he told the Patriot Ledger, a Boston newspaper. Asked how long it had been since he spoke to his brother – who founded the banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba – he said, “I don’t even remember.” Until his case is resolved, the 48-year-old Pakistan-born cleric can’t lead worship services at the Islamic Centre of New England, where he had been the imam since 1998, according to a report in the Patriot Ledger. With no passport, visa or income, he is not even sure how long he and his family may be permitted to live on the mosque property. “I cannot travel. I cannot work. What do they expect me to do? It has been very stressful for me and my family,” he told the newspaper. In his first interview since his November 15 detention, the imam said he was anxious to disprove the government’s two main charges of not returning to Pakistan in 1991, as required by a student visa, and committing fraud in applying for a later visa with help from a Brooklyn imam. “I do have faith in the American court system. All we’re hoping is that they give us a chance,” he said. The imam’s detention was part of a multi-state sweep by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most of the 33 people picked up on November 15 are Pakistanis, many of whom got fraudulent religious worker visas through a Brooklyn imam who is now in prison for fraud. Imam Masood’s son, Hassan Masood, and Imam Abdul Hannan of Chelmsford were also picked up in the November sweep. They’re awaiting deportation hearings, as are Imam Masood’s wife and four of their daughters. Imam Masood told the newspaper’s Lane Lambert that his family’s cases were doubly distressing because his four adult daughters were already scheduled for hearings later this month – and thus could be deported even sooner – while three younger daughters born in the US were not subject to immigration, and so could see their parents and siblings sent away while they stayed here. Imam Masood’s counsel is asking the immigration court to cancel the deportation case on the grounds of “extreme and unusual hardship” to the three American-born children. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Imam Masood’s counsel is asking the immigration court to cancel the deportation case on the grounds of “extreme and unusual hardship” to the three American-born children "where will the children learn to hate and sponge off the infidels if we are not here to teach them. It's a hardship, your honor!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-03-04 06:41 |
| #1 According to Masood, deportation could be a matter of life or death for him and other family members because his home country is “very dangerous now”, with widespread sympathy for a host of Islamic extremist groups – among them, one founded by his own brother, Haifz Saeed. “I have been a high-profile imam and I have rejected violence. That is not a very popular stand to take in some parts of Pakistan. Things have drastically changed ... radicalised,” he told the Patriot Ledger, a Boston newspaper. and a hearty fuck you Haifazz Saeed, forever. don't you just hate it when you can never finalize the decision as to which assholes are worser... Pakis or Paleos.. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-03-04 01:04 |