Author: Joe Milicia
Publication: Breitbart.com
Date: November 25, 2005
URL: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/25/D8E3LOTO0.html
Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious
leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for lying about 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.
"With today's arrest, ICE begins the
process of removing from the United States a criminal alien who has unequivocally
supported terrorists and terrorist organizations," Brian Moskowitz, special
agent with the federal office in Detroit, said in a statement.
A message left seeking comment from Damra's
immigration attorney, David Leopold, was not immediately returned.
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" 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.