Imam and his son back home: Masoods arrested in connection with religious visa fraud

By Laura Crimaldi/ Boston Herald Staff Writer
Friday, November 24, 2006

Two imams jailed last week on administrative immigration violations were granted bail Tuesday as about 100 Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders rallied outside a federal courthouse to support the clerics - who supporters insist were unfairly targeted.

"These men will be vindicated if this country is what it says. They will not be vindicated if this country is unjust," said Imam Abdullah T. Faaruq of the Mosque for Praising of Allah in Roxbury, standing outside the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. "Our nation is being judged by this one case."


A judge issued a bail amount of $7,500 for the two imams, Hafiz M. Masood of the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon and his brother-in-law, Abdul Hannan of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell in Chelmsford. Masood's son, Hassan, 24, also arrested, was given $2,500 bail. No later court date has been specified, a court spokesman said.

The men were released from the Plymouth House of Correction Tuesday and went home, Masood's family said.

"It's been so stressful," said Masood's daughter Amra, 22.

Masood was arrested Nov. 15 at the JFK Federal Building after attending a scheduled interview for his green card. His son, a biology major at University of Massachusetts at Boston, and Hannan, who accompanied Masood to the interview, were detained at that time. The three were arrested along with 31 other people in eight states nationwide on what a spokesman for the U. S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement called "administrative immigration violations."

Immigration officials allege the clerics, who are Pakistani immigrants, were part of a religious-visa fraud scheme in which illegal aliens pay cash in exchange for phony paperwork to get the visas and then work secular jobs.

The Islamic Center of New England had this to say in a statement released after the arrests, "We are extremely troubled by the government's apparent efforts to link Mr. Masood with a religious visa fraud scheme. This seems to be a direct attack on our religion and community. It is especially disturbing that the government has chosen to handle the matter the way it has, namely by taking Mr. Masood and his son to a detention center to be held without bond, while refusing to allow his family to speak to him. Mr. Masood should have the opportunity to defend allegations against him in front of an immigration court. He is a well-respected and active community leader and a devoted father and husband with no criminal history in nearly 20 years of residing in the United States. As such he presented no risk of flight or dangerous activity. Additionally it is deeply humiliating when a man of such high religious status in our community is treated as a criminal in front of the world."

The Masoods' Boston-based attorney, WIlliam Joyce, said his clients were innocent victims caught up in a national sweep designed to catch bigger fish.

Joyce said Masood and his son, both Pakistani natives, applied about five years ago for a religious worker's visa, and have been waiting for it to be processed ever since. Joyce said immigration officials arrested Masood and his son because the name of a Brooklyn, NY resident Muhammad Khalil, who was a major target of the government probe appeared on the Masoods' application, but Joyce argued the name appeared due to a clerical error.

"That's the only connection (Muhammed Masood) had to (the Brooklyn man)," Joyce said.

Despite the immigration violation charges, the court records show no deportation procedures in place for the Masoods, according to a court spokesman.

Hannan's attorney also called the charges "guilt by association" because of the cleric's past work at a Brooklyn, N.Y., mosque where another member, Khalil, was convicted of conspiracy and visa fraud in 2004. Hannan, 38, who has a green card, was an imam at the Brooklyn mosque.

"It's pretty flimsy," said Hannan's attorney, Jerry Friedman.

At the courthouse, Masood's daughter, Barerah, said she was eager for the homecoming, saying, "I'm going to give him a big hug."

- Reporter Sean Murphy contributed to this story

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