Oh no. He was feeding funds to the Chechnyan Moslem rebels.
Ship him to Moscow. There are some folks there with long memories.
Posted on 07/09/2002 9:26:57 AM PDT by The Energizer
Haddad seeks political asylum in U.S
By ALEXANDRA R. MOSES
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) The detained co-founder of an Islamic charity who the government is trying to deport is seeking political asylum in the United States because of a fear he will not be safe in his native Lebanon, his attorney said Tuesday.
Rabih Haddad, who appeared via a video linkup from the Monroe County Jail, has been detained for more than six months on a visa violation.
``There is a justifiable fear that he will be persecuted'' if he returns to his native country, his attorney Ashraf Nubani said outside of a Detroit immigration court. ``The United States has cast an aura, unjustifiably, against him as a man with links to terrorism.''
Haddad, who helped start the Global Relief Foundation, was arrested Dec. 14 the same day the charity's suburban Chicago office was raided. The Ann Arbor resident is accused of overstaying his visa.
The FBI has said it suspected Global Relief of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. The Treasury Department froze its assets.
Neither Haddad nor Global Relief have been charged with terrorist activity. Both have denied involvement with terrorists.
Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller said he couldn't comment on Haddad's request for asylum. He said Haddad's case is a ``matter of special interest,'' and the deportation efforts are procedural. The department has not said whether it considers Haddad a terror suspect.
Tuesday's hearing was the first public session in the efforts to deport Haddad. Nubani said he would file paperwork on the asylum request later in the day.
``Extend my thanks and my gratitude to all these people who came down,'' Haddad said, referring to supporters who attended the hearing.
The INS is moving to deport Haddad, his wife, Salma al-Rashaid, and three of their four children.
Haddad has been held at the Monroe County Jail, but the rest of the family is not detained. The couple's fourth child was born in the United States and cannot be deported.
``It has been very difficult for him,'' said al-Rashaid, who noted that Haddad's father died last week. ``This is not right. You're innocent until proven guilty.''
Nubani said in linking Haddad to terrorism, the United States has made it difficult for Haddad to go anywhere else.
``This is the safest place for him to be,'' he said.
Much of the government's case against Haddad came to light after a federal judge in April ordered the government to open Haddad's immigration hearings and release transcripts. A hearing on the government's appeal of that ruling is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker has scheduled an Aug. 27 trial on whether Haddad and his family should be deported. Al-Rashaid's lawyer said Tuesday that she and her children will seek to leave voluntarily if the asylum application is rejected.
The nonprofit Global Relief, based in Bridgeview, Ill., provides food, emergency relief, medical aid and education training in more than 20 countries, including Pakistan, Iraq and Chechnya.
Haddad traveled frequently as part of charity work, before and after he started Global Relief. From 1988 to 1992, he lived in Pakistan. His attorney said that was part of efforts by Muslim humanitarian organizations.
Federal officials have said in court documents that Global Relief maintained contacts with Wadih el Hage, bin Laden's former personal secretary.
El Hage was convicted last year in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies. Haddad last came to the United States in 1998 on a tourist visa that has since expired.
Haddad last came to the United States in 1998 on a tourist visa that has since expired.
How’s about this for an easy solution: ANYONE EVER convicted of visa violations of ANY KIND will be prohibited from EVER receiving another visa, much less citizenship.
Problem solved.
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Oh no. He was feeding funds to the Chechnyan Moslem rebels.
Ship him to Moscow. There are some folks there with long memories.
If he goes to Lebanon, he'll just hook up with other al Qaeda factions.
Oh, yes, the VDV know what to do with them. More interesting pictures and an interesting person *here.*
-archy-/-
Nope, here it is, for real. Ever read Dr. Jerry Pournelle's novels about a US- Soviet Co-dominion? Of course, when he was writing, he'd figured the Communist system would survive, but it could conceivably reemerge, hopefully less draconian than in its last incarnation.
But in the meantime, it does give me some interesting dinner companions, and that offers us some interesting topics about how things might have gone, had they not come out as they have.
And, of course, about methods for dealing with our common enemies....
-archy-/-
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