Officials appeal imam ruling

Friday, October 3, 2008
Last updated: Friday October 3, 2008, EDT 10:35 AM

BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE

STAFF WRITER

Homeland Security officials are appealing a federal immigration judge's ruling last month that an imam from Paterson could call the United States his permanent home.
   
"Now, it's going to be more of the same," said his attorney, Claudi Slovinsky. "The government attorney told me yesterday that they had filed their appeal. Then I got a two-page formal notice they've filed, they're appealing all the issues."
   
The judge, Alberto Riefkohl, of Immigration Court in Newark on Sept. 4 rejected the federal agency's claims that Mohammad Qatanani, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, had links to Hamas, a group branded as terrorist by the United States, as well as several other nations.

Qatanani has gotten support from, among other areas of our government -- including Christopher Christie, who is the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, and from the FBI, which has conducted outreach efforts with the Muslim community through the help of the mosque.
   
With Monday, Oct. 6, looming as the last day for the government to file a notice of appeal, Qatanani supporters had hoped that the fact that the government had not filed anything signaled a concrete victory for the imam. They had planned to celebrate the judge's ruling only after Monday passed without word from the government.
   
Today, as word is beginning to spread about the appeal, anger and frustration is setting in upon the Muslim and Arab community, which had taken the government's efforts to deport the imam -- hailed across New Jersey as a voice of moderation and a bridge-builder between Muslims and non-Muslims -- as an attack on their religion and their culture.
  
"We are hurt and very disappointed," said Aref Assaf, the spokesman for the imam. "The government has decided to pursue the legal strangulation of the imam and our community. This is vindictive. The implications for relations between our community and the federal government are damaging and far-reaching because of this. We have a case that is both just and right, and we will fight. We're going into this new fight with the ruling of a federal judge in our favor."

Efforts to obtain a comment from Homeland Security officials were unsuccessful this morning.
    
They had argued during a four-day trial that Qatanani, 44, lied in his 1999 application for residency because he failed to disclose a conviction in Israel in 1993 based on purported links to Hamas. But Riefkohl determined that the documents and witnesses the government put forth to support its accusations -- including some documents from Israel -- were deficient and even of questionable credibility.

The imam came to the United States on a religious visa in 1996 with his wife and three children. Three more children were born in the United States. During his time as imam, Qatanani, a soft-spoken, diminutive man, has won the fondness and respect of people from different religions, ethnic communities and in the highest rungs of political power in New Jersey.
 
The state's most powerful political and law enforcement officials often make a point of attending major events at his mosque. On Wednesday, at a 7 a.m. event which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, for example, Gov. Jon Corzine was the main speaker at the mosque. Congressman Bill Pascrell also attended.
  
In his defense at the trial, Qatanani maintained that in a visit from Jordan, where he had been living, to his native West Bank in 1993, he was detained by Israeli authorities. But he said that during the three-month detention, during which he said he was tortured, Israelis never told him he was officially arrested or convicted of anything.
  
Experts on the Israeli judicial system testified that Israel used to routinely detain Palestinian men without charges. They argued that Qatanani never would have been released after only three months if the Israelis had truly believed he had an associaition with Hamas.
  
The news today comes a day before the mosque is to hold a huge celebration in Clifton marking the end of Ramadan. The gathering typically attracts several thousand Muslims and high profile political and law enforcement officials.
 
Meanwhile, Qatanani supporters are weighing now how to break the news about the appeal to the imam's congregation, which is to gather today for its usual Friday prayers, a signficant weekly event for Muslims.
  
"We don't want to give people this news before the celebration tomorrow," Assaf said.
  

Homeland Security officials are appealing a federal immigration judge's ruling last month that an imam from Paterson could call the United States his permanent home.
   
"Now, it's going to be more of the same," said his attorney, Claudi Slovinsky. "The government attorney told me yesterday that they had filed their appeal. Then I got a two-page formal notice they've filed, they're appealing all the issues."
   
The judge, Alberto Riefkohl, of Immigration Court in Newark on Sept. 4 rejected the federal agency's claims that Mohammad Qatanani, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, had links to Hamas, a group branded as terrorist by the United States, as well as several other nations.

KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF

Qatanani from an event earlier this month.

Qatanani has gotten support from, among other areas of our government -- including Christopher Christie, who is the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, and from the FBI, which has conducted outreach efforts with the Muslim community through the help of the mosque.
   
With Monday, Oct. 6, looming as the last day for the government to file a notice of appeal, Qatanani supporters had hoped that the fact that the government had not filed anything signaled a concrete victory for the imam. They had planned to celebrate the judge's ruling only after Monday passed without word from the government.
   
Today, as word is beginning to spread about the appeal, anger and frustration is setting in upon the Muslim and Arab community, which had taken the government's efforts to deport the imam -- hailed across New Jersey as a voice of moderation and a bridge-builder between Muslims and non-Muslims -- as an attack on their religion and their culture.
  
"We are hurt and very disappointed," said Aref Assaf, the spokesman for the imam. "The government has decided to pursue the legal strangulation of the imam and our community. This is vindictive. The implications for relations between our community and the federal government are damaging and far-reaching because of this. We have a case that is both just and right, and we will fight. We're going into this new fight with the ruling of a federal judge in our favor."

Efforts to obtain a comment from Homeland Security officials were unsuccessful this morning.
    
They had argued during a four-day trial that Qatanani, 44, lied in his 1999 application for residency because he failed to disclose a conviction in Israel in 1993 based on purported links to Hamas. But Riefkohl determined that the documents and witnesses the government put forth to support its accusations -- including some documents from Israel -- were deficient and even of questionable credibility.

The imam came to the United States on a religious visa in 1996 with his wife and three children. Three more children were born in the United States. During his time as imam, Qatanani, a soft-spoken, diminutive man, has won the fondness and respect of people from different religions, ethnic communities and in the highest rungs of political power in New Jersey.
 
The state's most powerful political and law enforcement officials often make a point of attending major events at his mosque. On Wednesday, at a 7 a.m. event which marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan, for example, Gov. Jon Corzine was the main speaker at the mosque. Congressman Bill Pascrell also attended.
  
In his defense at the trial, Qatanani maintained that in a visit from Jordan, where he had been living, to his native West Bank in 1993, he was detained by Israeli authorities. But he said that during the three-month detention, during which he said he was tortured, Israelis never told him he was officially arrested or convicted of anything.
  
Experts on the Israeli judicial system testified that Israel used to routinely detain Palestinian men without charges. They argued that Qatanani never would have been released after only three months if the Israelis had truly believed he had an associaition with Hamas.
  
The news today comes a day before the mosque is to hold a huge celebration in Clifton marking the end of Ramadan. The gathering typically attracts several thousand Muslims and high profile political and law enforcement officials.
 
Meanwhile, Qatanani supporters are weighing now how to break the news about the appeal to the imam's congregation, which is to gather today for its usual Friday prayers, a signficant weekly event for Muslims.
  
"We don't want to give people this news before the celebration tomorrow," Assaf said.