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Imam set to testify in fight against deportation
June 2, 2008
Elizabeth Llorente - The Record (Hackensack N.J.)Issue date: 5/29/08 Section: Real News
A prominent Muslim cleric facing deportation is to take the witness stand Monday in his fight to make the United States his permanent home.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to deport Mohammad Qatanani, the imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, N.J., because, the agency says, he lied when he failed to disclose in a 1999 application for permanent residency _ or "green-card" status _ that Israel convicted him in 1993 of "assisting Hamas."
Qatanani, who came to the United States on a religious visa in 1996, argues that he did not note the incident because, though he was detained for three months, the Israelis did not charge or convict him.
Immigration officials claim that documents provided by the Israelis include a confession in which Qatanani admitted being a member of Hamas from 1989 to 1991. But U.S. authorities have failed to produce it despite demands from the imam's lawyers.
In addition, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials testified last month that at a 2005 meeting, the imam informed them of the arrest and a past link to Hamas, which the United States lists as a terrorist group.
The 44-year-old imam says that he was tortured while in detention and that, under duress, he signed a document written in Hebrew.
Aref Assaf, a spokesman for the imam, said that Qatanani did not, as the FBI and ICE officials testified, refer to his detention by Israelis as an arrest. Assaf also said that the imam did not tell the officials in the 2005 meeting that he had once had links to Hamas. That meeting was held at Qatanani's request to discuss the government's delay in processing his application.
Assaf, a Denville, N.J., resident and member of the Paterson mosque, said that former Passaic County Prosecutor Ronald Fava was at the 2005 meeting with the imam, as his attorney, and is expected take the stand today to rebut the U.S. officials' account of what Qatanani said.
"This is a respected attorney and former prosecutor," Assaf said. "This is the only way we can rectify the record about what was really said. What the U.S. government claims the imam said is a total lie."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to deport Mohammad Qatanani, the imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, N.J., because, the agency says, he lied when he failed to disclose in a 1999 application for permanent residency _ or "green-card" status _ that Israel convicted him in 1993 of "assisting Hamas."
Qatanani, who came to the United States on a religious visa in 1996, argues that he did not note the incident because, though he was detained for three months, the Israelis did not charge or convict him.
Immigration officials claim that documents provided by the Israelis include a confession in which Qatanani admitted being a member of Hamas from 1989 to 1991. But U.S. authorities have failed to produce it despite demands from the imam's lawyers.
In addition, FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials testified last month that at a 2005 meeting, the imam informed them of the arrest and a past link to Hamas, which the United States lists as a terrorist group.
The 44-year-old imam says that he was tortured while in detention and that, under duress, he signed a document written in Hebrew.
Aref Assaf, a spokesman for the imam, said that Qatanani did not, as the FBI and ICE officials testified, refer to his detention by Israelis as an arrest. Assaf also said that the imam did not tell the officials in the 2005 meeting that he had once had links to Hamas. That meeting was held at Qatanani's request to discuss the government's delay in processing his application.
Assaf, a Denville, N.J., resident and member of the Paterson mosque, said that former Passaic County Prosecutor Ronald Fava was at the 2005 meeting with the imam, as his attorney, and is expected take the stand today to rebut the U.S. officials' account of what Qatanani said.
"This is a respected attorney and former prosecutor," Assaf said. "This is the only way we can rectify the record about what was really said. What the U.S. government claims the imam said is a total lie."
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