http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw1 ... 050603.htm


Kurdish immigrant accused of terrorism released on bond

June 3, 2005, 5:43 PM

DETROIT (AP) -- Federal authorities on Friday released a Kurdish immigrant who had been jailed for 10 months while he appeals his deportation on terrorism charges.

Ibrahim Parlak walked out of a Department of Homeland Security building with his 7-year-old daughter and other family, friends and supporters.

"It feels great," Parlak said. "I came to this country seeking freedom and I got it."

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ruled May 20 that Parlak, 43, should be freed on $50,000 bond while Parlak appeals an immigration judge's December order to deport him to Turkey. Cohn noted Parlak's strong community ties in the Lake Michigan resort town of Harbert, where he lives and owns a restaurant.

Parlak was taken from the Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek to the government office in Detroit, where he was released after his attorney, Jay Marhoefer, posted bond.

After picking Parlak up the Detroit, the group was to head back to Harbert for a party at Parlak's restaurant.

"They have tested my patience and my courage but not my commitment to America," Parlak said. "I am thankful that in America we have a justice system to correct mistakes."

In his May 20 ruling, Cohn praised Parlak as a model immigrant and questioned the government's motives. But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday issued a statement from its Washington office that twice referred to Parlak as a terrorist.

"The release of terrorist Ibrahim Parlak into the community is in compliance with a federal district judge's order, but it does not change the fact that an immigration judge has found Parlak deportable under our nation's immigration laws," the statement said.

The agency said it would continue defending against Parlak's appeal of the immigration judge's ruling, and would "consider seeking authorization" to appeal Cohn's order to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

The government wants to deport Parlak, who was granted asylum in 1992, because of his past ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in Turkey. The U.S. State Department classified the PKK as a terrorist group in 1997.

The Department of Homeland Security says Parlak did not disclose important details about his separatist activities in his original asylum application and omitted his conviction in Turkey from subsequent immigration forms.

Parlak's supporters deny he was involved in violence. His lawyers point out that the Turkish security court system that convicted him has since been abolished because of international pressure. Human rights groups say the courts relied on confessions extracted by torture.

Associated Press writer Adrienne Schwisow in Detroit contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Web site of Parlak's supporters: http://www.freeibrahim.com