Imam's case continues for the Third day in Newark, NJ
IHT, 05-13-2008
An immigration hearing for a popular Muslim leader resumed
Monday with both sides focusing on a disputed arrest at the
heart of his deportation case.
Imam Mohammad Qatanani greets supporters before
walking into a federal building in Newark.
Photo: AP
Mohammad Qatanani, 44, is being denied US residency based on
allegations that he failed to disclose a 1993 arrest and
conviction in Israel on his green card application.
Qatanani, a Palestinian with Jordanian
citizenship, has been the imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic
County in Paterson, New Jersey, since 1996, the year he came to
the United States on a work visa. He applied for permanent
residency in 1999.
The US government is now seeking to deport him, arguing that
he did not list a prior arrest in Israel on his application - a
disclosure that could disqualify him from getting a green card.
Israel said Qatanani admitted to being a Hamas member during
interrogation in 1993 in Israel.
An IDF statement said a military court sentenced Qatanani to
three months in prison and a 12-month suspended sentence, and
also fined him.
During the third day of testimony Monday, defense witnesses
and lawyers for Qatanani continued to dispute he was ever
arrested and countered claims he was associated with Hamas.
They said Qatanani, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship,
had been detained - not arrested - while traveling to his native
West Bank in 1993.
They said he was unaware of any conviction and they continued
to challenge the authenticity of documents that immigration
authorities say came from Israel.
Witnesses for Qatanani also testified Monday that detention
of Palestinians traveling through Israel in the early 1990s was
routine.
On Monday, Jonathan Kuttab, a Jerusalem-based lawyer, and
Lisa Hajjar, a professor at the University of California, were
called by the defense as expert witnesses on IDF courts. Another
expert witness discussed interrogation techniques commonly used
in Israel at the time.
Kuttab and Hajjar separately described IDF courts in the
early 1990s as backlogged with thousands of Palestinian
defendants during the height of the Intifada.
Kuttab said court proceedings were routinely conducted in
Hebrew and defendants only had access to lawyers
post-interrogation. The majority of cases were resolved with
plea bargains that often followed confessions obtained with
techniques later classified as torture, according to Hajjar.
Kuttab questioned why the documents in Qatanani's case did
not contain a confession - a document he said was nearly always
central to Israeli cases. He expressed surprise at the light
sentence Qatanani was allegedly given for being a suspected
Hamas member.
"They say he got only three months (detention) for membership
in Hamas? And a few weeks after his release he was issued a
permit and allowed to travel to Jordan?" Kuttab asked.
Immigration lawyers for the US government questioned each
witness' expertise and established that none of them had direct
knowledge of Qatanani's case.
Although the details of the Israeli incident are disputed,
both sides have testified that US immigration officials were
unaware of them until Qatanani brought them to their attention
in 2005.
That's the year he asked for a special meeting with
immigration to find out why there was a six-year delay in his
green card application.
When the judge called for a lunch break, Qatanani -
surrounded by at least 40 supporters - led daily prayers in the
middle of the courthouse cafeteria.
Despite high winds and rain, Qatanani supporters outside the
courthouse waved American flags at passers-by and shouted
through megaphones that Qatanani is a man of peace.
The hearing will resume June 2, when Qatanani is scheduled to
testify.
