Mosque founder ordered deported from U.S.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A leading fund-raiser for an Islamic charity with alleged links to the Palestinian militant group Hamas was ordered deported Tuesday.

An immigration judge ruled that Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 44, should have known that his work for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development provided support for the group.

"Our laws prohibit aliens who are living here as our guests to use this country as a base to advocate terrorism or raise money for terrorist causes," said John Salter, Los Angeles chief counsel for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Hamdan, of Buena Park, was arrested on immigration violations in July as federal authorities unsealed an indictment against the Texas-based charity, charging it with funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.

Hamdan, who was not charged in that case, was charged with living in the U.S. without a valid visa and jailed without bail.

Hamdan, a founder of an Anaheim mosque who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, admitted acting as a fund-raiser for Holy Land, but said he believed the donations were used only for humanitarian projects.

Lookie here

http://www.petitiononline.com/Hamdan/petition.html

621 Total Signatures

To: U.S. Authorities
Related Article:
Struggle Continues Over Jailing of Muslim Man
By Kevin Pang
Times Staff Writer

July 31, 2004

Several hundred Muslims rallied Friday in Santa Ana to demand the release of an Orange County man who they say is being unfairly held for violating immigration laws in an attempt by authorities to pressure him to testify against an indicted Islamic charity where he once worked.

Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 44, of Buena Park was arrested by federal agents Tuesday, the same day seven members of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation were charged with funneling millions to Hamas, the Palestinian group that the U.S. government calls a terrorist organization.

Hamdan, a 24-year resident of the United States who is being held without bail, once worked as a paid fundraiser for the charity but was not named in the indictment.

Hamdan's lawyer, Ban Al-Wardi, said her client is accused of overstaying his student visa after 1986. But she said Hamdan has been living here with his wife and six children under a work permit, which was renewed in May. Hamdan is a Muslim born in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Middle East.

Al-Wardi said the arrest is a move by the government to pressure Hamdan to testify against the Holy Land Foundation. But a spokeswoman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Hamdan was "in violation of immigration law" but would not discuss details.

At the Civic Center prayer vigil, Hamdan's wife, Entesar, spoke as her two youngest sons stood at her side.

"If my husband is unjustly deported, our family and our lives will be destroyed," she said. "I appeal to all people who support fairness and justice to help free my husband so he can come back to his children and family."

Al-Wardi said Hamdan's health was deteriorating while in custody. Hamdan suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure and was transferred to Terminal Island in San Pedro late Thursday because of its on-site medical staff.

We, the undersigned, deplore any and all "pressure tactics" in which he and his wife are reportedly being threatened with deportation, after living legally in the United States for 24 years.
We urge those responsible for Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan's detention to offer him due process and allow him to return back to his wife, children, friends, and community.

Sincerely,

We who want to kill Americans <-----Ab Lib]

All mosques that keep a book that says that Muslims will be executed for trying to convert to another religion or that all Jews and Christians must be killed should be shut down and their imans deported. Those beliefs are completely incompatible with freedom of thought and freedom or religion. We cannot have terrorists who will kill their own just for trying to have their own minds. The Koran needs some heavily editting done before it can be promoted in this country.

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