Thread: Deported Muslim leader arrested in West Bank

This guys was just deported from here and Israel has already arrested him! Sounds good to me!!!

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...DATE/701090406

David N. Goodman / Associated Press


DETROIT -- The former imam of Ohio's largest mosque, who was deported to his native West Bank last week, was arrested by Israeli authorities after crossing from Jordan, his brother says. Israeli authorities confirmed Tuesday that he was in custody.

Fawaz Damra, 46, had been jailed in Monroe County, Mich., for a year while awaiting deportation for concealing his aid to Islamic Jihad -- classified by the U.S. as a terrorist group -- when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced his removal Friday.

His brother, Nabil Damra, said the Red Cross and the Center for the Defense of the Individual, an Israeli advocacy group for Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories, told him that Fawaz Damra was in custody and had been taken to Israel's Al Jalameh detention facility in Israel, near Jenin, West Bank.

The Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, confirmed his arrest Tuesday.

Martin Monko, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Jerusalem, said that as a matter of policy his organization does not confirm or deny having information on arrests by Israeli authorities. If information had reached the Red Cross, he said, it would have been passed on directly to Damra's family.

Nabil Damra, speaking through a translator by phone from the West Bank, said: "He was arrested the moment he arrived to the border."

A lawyer had been hired for his brother, he said.

"Our biggest fear is that he might stand trial in Israel," said Don Bryant, Damra's friend and president of the Greater Cleveland Immigrant Support Network. "This is a nightmare for him."

Damra's wife and their three U.S.-born daughters live in Ohio. All are U.S. citizens.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Greg Palmore said Damra was flown to Jordan on Thursday and handed over to Palestinian authorities at the Allenby Bridge, which connects Jordan to the West Bank. Any crossers must first go through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.

Damra was presented to Israeli immigration officials for admission to the West Bank.

Damra was convicted in June 2004. At his trial, prosecutors showed video footage of Damra and other Muslim leaders raising money for an arm of Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad, a small radical group with links to Iran and Syria, has carried out dozens of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel.

He was imam at the Islamic Center of Cleveland. His attorney, Michael Birach, has said Damra was a victim of immigration officials who wanted to look tough after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Damra immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.

This is good news. His family in the U.S. was starting to make noise, saying he was "missing" and trying to imply that he may have met with foul play. It looks like he was just up to plain NO GOOD.