{"id":673,"date":"2008-05-12T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2008-05-12T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2008\/05\/us-muslim-leaders-deportation.php"},"modified":"2008-05-12T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2008-05-12T15:52:09","slug":"us-muslim-leaders-deportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/05\/us-muslim-leaders-deportation","title":{"rendered":"US Muslim Leader’s Deportation Hearing Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – May 12, 2008 <\/strong>
\nNEWARK, New Jersey – A deportation hearing for a popular Muslim leader resumed Monday with both sides focusing on a disputed arrest in Israel that is at the heart of the case.
\nMohammad Qatanani, 44, is being denied U.S. residency based on allegations that he failed to disclose the 1993 arrest and conviction in Israel on his green card application.
\nQatanani, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, has been the Imam at the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson , New Jersey since 1996, the year he came to the United States on a work visa. He applied for permanent residency in 1999.
\nThe U.S. government is now seeking to deport him, arguing that he never disclosed the arrest in on his application – a disclosure that could disqualify him from getting a green card.
\nIsraeli military authorities say Qatanani admitted to being a member of Hamas during interrogation in 1993 in Israel. Both the U.S. and Israel consider Hamas to be a terror group.
\nAn Israeli military court sentenced Qatanani to three months in prison and a 12-month suspended sentence, and also fined him, according to the Israel army.
\nDuring the third day of testimony Monday, defense witnesses and lawyers for Qatanani continued to dispute he was ever arrested and countered claims he was associated with Hamas.
\nThey said Qatanani had been detained – not arrested – while traveling to his native West Bank in 1993. They said he was unaware of any conviction.
\nThey continued to challenge the authenticity of documents that immigration authorities say came from Israel.
\nWitnesses for Qatanani also testified Monday that detention of Palestinians traveling through Israel in the early 1990’s were routine.
\nOn Monday, Lisa Hajjar, a professor at the University of California was called by the defense as an expert witness on Israeli military courts.
\nHajjar testified that the detention and interrogation of Palestinians – including the use of techniques later outlawed as torture – was routinely conducted by Israeli authorities in the early 1990s.
\nWhen asked by a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement lawyer to look at documents provided by Israel in Qatanani’s case, Hajjar said they did not appear to her to indicate he had been convicted.
\n“There is no document that actually names him,” she said. “There’s an indictment, but an indictment is not a conviction.”
\nAlthough the details of the Israeli incident are disputed, both sides have testified that U.S. immigration officials were unaware of them until Qatanani brought them to their attention in 2005. That is the year he asked for a special meeting with immigration to find out why there was a six year delay in his green card application.
\nWhen the judge called for a lunch break, Qatanani – surrounded by at least 40 supporters – lead daily prayers in the middle of the courthouse cafeteria.
\nOutside the courthouse, Qatanani supporters waved American flags at passers-by.
\nIt was the third day of testimony. The judge heard from a range of Qatanani supporters Friday that included high ranking New Jersey law enforcement officials and religious leaders from several faiths who said Qatanani had reached out and worked with them.
\nCopyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – May 12, 2008 NEWARK, New Jersey – A deportation hearing for a popular Muslim leader resumed Monday with both sides focusing on a disputed arrest in Israel that is at the heart of the case. 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