Thread: Boston: Muslim leader faces criminal immigration charges

Boston Muslim leader faces criminal immigration charges
Friday, August 3, 2007
By: Chris Gonsalves

Boston Muslim leader faces criminal immigration charges
Friday, August 3, 2007
By: Chris Gonsalves

Racist oppression hits Muslim community

Respected Imam Muhammad Masood is facing 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines after being formally charged on July 24 with federal immigration fraud.

The highly-regarded Muslim leader was initially arrested during an ICE raid in November, along with his 24-year-old son and 31 others. According to the Muslim American Society in Boston, Masood is legally in the United States and, in fact, received amnesty in 1996.

Raids are part of national policy efforts at criminalizing the immigrant population. Hundreds of thousands have been arrested and deported in recent years. Technical immigration violations that would have been previously considered civil are now treated criminally.

The arrest was the culmination of threats and pressure applied by government lawyers to turn Masood against other local Islamic leaders. Hours of interrogations and threats of public humiliation and extensive jail time did not break him. Masood refused to cooperate.

The failure to rat resulted in federal charges.

Masood’s supporters packed the Boston courtroom on the 24th while others held a press conference right outside. Religious leaders, local supports, lawyers and activists came together in response to these racist attacks.

Leading the Islamic Center of New England and its base of 1,500 members, Masood was likely targeted for his contributions to the fight against racist oppression and its divisive social character. Through community initiatives that often bought together members of the Arab, Muslim and Sikh communities, racial and cultural barriers were broken and relationships built.

This is the government’s second attempt to convict Masood. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9; the trial is set for Oct. 11.

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServS ... _ctrl=1261

Technical immigration violations that would have been previously considered civil are now treated criminally.

Yes and its about time they are. Kick this guy out with a big boot! People I respect earn it.

A little more to the story than reported in that stupid socialist rag.





Feds charge Sharon imam with fraud: Muhammad Masood lied to immigration officials, they say

By Patriot Ledger staff

BOSTON - Federal investigators have filed a criminal complaint charging Imam Muhammad Masood of Sharon with fraud and lying to immigration officials.

Masood, 49, was arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court and released.
Masood’s attorney, Norman Zalkind, said the government is hoping to indict his client within the next 30 days. A 36-page affidavit filed in the case alleges that Masood lied repeatedly to the Immigration Service regarding his eligibility to become a permanent resident. The former spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of New England’s Sharon mosque is a native of Pakistan and had applied for a green card in 2001.

Masood claimed that he left the United States and returned to Pakistan, from 1991-1993, as required as a condition of his visa, the affidavit says. Masood also maintained that he served as imam at a mosque in Faisalabad, Pakistan, during his time abroad. He began serving as imam of the Sharon mosque in 1998.

Whether he returned to his native Pakistan is critical, because if he failed to comply with immigration regulations, he would have been ineligible to be granted legal permanent residence.

Authorities alleged that Masood remained in this country, lived in Boston University housing, got traffic tickets, had a job and was even present for the birth of his seventh child in March 1992.

To bolster their case that Masood lied to immigration officials, federal investigators contend he also lied to get a New Hampshire driver’s license in 1999 - giving a New Hampshire address while he was still living in Boston University housing, despite no longer being a student there.

In an application for permanent residence, Masood also allegedly lied about never receiving public assistance. Authorities said Masood and his family applied for and received benefits from Massachusetts’ Medicaid program.

He also allegedly denied being arrested, even though records showed he had been charged with shoplifting in Norwood in 2000.
If convicted, Masood faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a mandatory special assessment of $100 on each charge.

In May, an immigration judge scheduled an Oct. 11 deportation hearing for Masood, his wife and their five adult children.

Masood, his son Hassan and Masood’s brother-in-law, Imam Abdul Hannan of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell, were picked up in November as part of a multi-state sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Masood has said that he returned to his native Pakistan, but re-entered this country illegally in 1993 and later paid an amnesty fine. He claims someone else was using his driver’s license in 1992 when a ticket was issued.

Masood’s immigration attorney, William Joyce of Duxbury, has said the imam and his family would apply for political asylum if they are deported to Pakistan, on the grounds that it would be dangerous for them to live there. This rationale stems partly from the fact one of Massood’s brothers, Muhammad Saeed, is one of Pakistan’s most notorious radical Muslim leaders and the founder of a banned terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (Soldiers of the Pure) that still curries considerable support there. The United States declared the group a terrorist organization after the Sept. 11 attacks, and it is banned in Pakistan, India and by the United Nations.

Masood has disavowed any relationship with his brother and told Sharon clergy in May that the last time he spoke with him was ‘‘a long time ago.’’

Another of Masood’s brothers, Imam Hamid Mahmood, abruptly left his job as spiritual leader of the Worcester Islamic Center last month and returned to Pakistan. He had been imam in Worcester since 1999. He, his wife and their five children left for Pakistan in June. The same week, the Daily Times, a newspaper based in Lahore, Pakistan, reported that Hamid Mahmood and his family had been deported by U.S. officials because of ‘‘immigration regulation infringements.’’

A family in trouble

Imam Muhammad Masood

—Faces a criminal complaint charging him with fraud and lying to immigration officials. Was spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of New England’s Sharon mosque since 1998.

Imam Mahmood Hamid

—Brother of Masood and Saeed. Abruptly left his job as spiritual leader of the Worcester Islamic Center last month and returned to Pakistan. He had been imam in Worcester since 1999.

Muhammad Saeed

—Brother of Masood and Hamid. One of Pakistan’s most notorious radical Muslim leaders and the founder of a banned terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (Soldiers of the Pure).

Imam Abdul Hannan

—Married to the sister of the three brothers. Picked up with Masood and Masood’s son Hassan in November for alleged violations of immigration laws. Longtime imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell.

Dennis Tatz may be reached at dtatz@ledger.com .

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Tuesday, July 24, 2007

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