Two North Jersey sheriffs testified Friday that a prominent imam, now facing
deportation, had helped them gain the trust of North Jersey Muslims.
KEVIN R. WEXLER / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
Imam Mohammad Qatanani waving to supporters after leaving
Immigration Court in Newark yesterday.
On the second day of a trial in Immigration Court in Newark, Bergen County
Sheriff Leo P. McGuire said when he decided to reach out to the Muslim
community, Mohammad Qatanani, the imam at the Islamic Center of Passaic County,
was crucial to making it happen.
"I have an open invitation to go to the mosque in Paterson," McGuire said,
adding that he and the imam get together "every few weeks. In a very short
period of time, you think you’ve known him your whole life."
PRINCIPAL PLAYERS
Imam Mohammad Qatanani, the defendant: Spiritual leader for 12 years of the
Islamic Center of Passaic County, a large mosque in Paterson. Born in Palestine.
Taught at the University of Jordan. Married, with six children; three born in
the United States. He and his wife, Sumaia, and three children face deportation.
Alan Wolf, the prosecutor: assistant district counsel for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement. Wolf has argued immigration cases for at least five
years and will make the argument for deportation.
Claudia Slovinsky, the defense: immigration attorney for more than 20 years
in New York City. Chairwoman of the Immigration and Nationality Committee of the
New York City Bar Association. Handled high-profile deportation cases after
9/11. Has worked on Qatanani's petition for legal residency since 1999.
Alberto J. Riefkohl, the judge: Appointed to the U.S. Immigration Court in
Newark in 1995. Served in the National Guard and received his law degree from
the University of Puerto Rico. Worked as an attorney in New York City from 1979
and 1994. Will hear both sides of the case and write the decision.
— Heather Haddon
* * *
FAST FACTS
Imam Mohammad Qatanani, spiritual leader of the Is lamic Center of Passaic
County, is asking Immigration Court to grant him permanent U.S. residency.
He originally applied for permanent residency in 1999.
After a series of interviews with the imam, the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services denied the application.
Immigration officials then began deportation proceedings against the imam,
his wife and three of his children.
A three-day hearing on his residency application is scheduled to begin
Thursday before Judge Alberto Riefkohl in Immigration Court in
Newark.
Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale described Qatanani as an asset to law
enforcement seeking to interact with the Muslim community, and as a generally
good-hearted man.
McGuire and Speziale were among several character witnesses called by
Qatanani’s defense team to describe his contributions to the United States since
he came here on a religious visa in 1996. The witnesses, who also included
rabbis, Catholic priests and members of Qatanani’s mosque, spoke of his embrace
of other faiths and dedication to establishing relationships between Muslims and
political leaders and law enforcement authorities.
The defense aimed to challenge federal lawyers’ portrayal on Thursday of
Qatanani as a man with a dark past that included membership in Hamas, a militant
Palestinian group branded as terrorist by the United States.
Qatanani, 44, is pressing his case for permanent U.S. residency, which he was
denied in 2006 by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The
Department of Homeland Security claims that Qatanani failed to disclose in his
1999 green card application that Israelis convicted him in 1993 of "assisting
Hamas."
Qatanani and his lawyer, Claudia Slovinsky of Manhattan, have argued that
Israelis never told him that he had been officially arrested, charged or
convicted of any crime. Qatanani has said that he was tortured by the Israelis
during his detention and signed documents in Hebrew under duress.
If Qatanani loses his case, and does not appeal, he will have to leave the
United States with his wife, Somaia, and six children. Three of his children
were born in the United States, but likely would leave with their parents.
Outside the courtroom, demonstrators left no doubt where their sympathies
lay. Pleas for justice and fairness boomed from loudspeakers.
"We're here today because of our imam, Dr. Qatanani," said Sirraj Wahhaj, an
African American imam from New York, to the crowd.
Calling him a "very honorable man" who has done great work during his nearly
13 years in America, Wahhaj said the United States needs leaders like Qatanani:
"He's the voice of reason; a voice of moderation."
Wahhaj, who denounces terrorism, was listed as one of 117 unindicted
co-conspirators in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. In 1991, he
was the first Muslim to lead a prayer before the opening of the House of
Representatives.
Back in the courtroom, the federal lawyers with U.S. Customs and Immigration
Enforcement -- which handles deportations -- sought to shift the focus away from
the imam’s contributions in the United States and back to his alleged activities
in the Middle East.
Speziale said that his experience with international law enforcement cases
taught him not to take the conclusions of foreign governments at face value.
"I have to really look at that evidence and look at the merits of the case
and find out how that information was obtained, what was the standard that they
utilized to get that information."
An immigration agent, Heather Philpott, testified Friday that Qatanani
admitted in 2005 that an Israeli court had convicted him of membership in Hamas,
which has been branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union. The
assertion contradicts Qatanani’s contention that it was only recently that he
learned the Israelis were claiming that he had been officially arrested, charged
and convicted of a crime.
Philpott also said that in 2002, she saw a document related to Qatanani’s
green card application that showed a "counterrorism hit" -- meaning that a check
of his fingerprints or background had turned up a possible terrorist link.
The judge, Alberto Riefkohl, asked why nothing further apparently had been
done regarding the "hit" until the ICE agent and the FBI met with Qatanani in
2005, at his request. The imam requested the meeting with federal officials to
ask why his application was taking so long, Slovinsky said.
The agent said she was not sure whether another agency, such as the FBI,
investigated further. It remained unclear at the hearing what the "hit" referred
to. Federal investigators have said they did not learn about the Israeli claims
of Qatanani’s alleged links to Hamas until 2005, when he volunteered the
information.
On Thursday, the first day of the hearing, an FBI agent testified that the
FBI had been aware of Qatatani for some years because of his involvement with
his mosque, the Paterson-based Islamic Center. The center, Alicea said, was of
interest to the FBI because a former imam had faced charges of funneling funds
to Palestinian terrorist groups. Trials based on those claims ended in either
acquittals or, in one case, a hung jury.
The Qatanani trial, which was recessed in early afternoon, was to end on
Monday5/12, but the judge added a fourth day — Monday, May 19 — when the imam is
expected to take the stand. On Monday, the defense plans to call expert
witnesses, including officials of Human Rights Watch, to testify about allegedly
questionable practices of the Israeli justice system in regards to
Palestinians.
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