Posted on 02/15/2005 7:38:25 PM PST by Land_of_Lincoln_John
CHICAGO -- A federal judge Tuesday sentenced a Jordanian woman to 15 months in prison for illegally entering the United States, despite her tearful explanation she believed her family in her native country wanted to kill her.
In handing down the sentence for Wafa Mustafa, 35, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar said he was troubled by the defendant's long history of felony convictions in the years she spent in the United States.
"Every country has the right to protect itself and its citizens," Coar said. "You have shown a flagrant disregard for the laws of our nation."
Mustafa last lived in Oak Lawn.
Before the judge announced his sentence, Mustafa begged him to give her probation, saying she only came back to the United States because she was afraid her family wanted her dead because they believed she had disgraced them.
"Being there (in Jordan), knowing that they want to kill you ... of course I'm going to run," Mustafa said, adding that she also wanted to get back to her children, who live in this country. "I have no place else to go. No other options."
But Coar noted 10 convictions on Mustafa's record, including state convictions for retail theft, criminal trespass and reckless conduct dating back to 1992.
In 1996, Mustafa pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Rueben Castillo to calling in a phony threat that a bomb was aboard a Chicago-bound Royal Jordanian jet carrying a relative, according to court records.
Castillo put her on five months probation for the conviction.
Mustafa was deported to Jordan in September 1999, but returned to the United States illegally, according to her plea declaration in the current case. She was again deported in August 2000.
Mustafa again re-entered the United States illegally, and federal agents arrested her in Illinois on Feb. 18, 2004, according to her plea. The address of her arrest was not provided in court documents.
According to a court filing by Mustafa's defense attorney, Piyush Chandra, Mustafa re-entered the United States "out of a very real fear for her physical safety and life," believing that her husband and father wanted her dead for "dishonoring" the family.
The problems with her family began when Mustafa and her husband moved to Kuwait in 1990, shortly before Iraq invaded the country, according to the filing. In late 1990, a gang of Iraqi soldiers raped Mustafa as she walked to get bread, according to the filing.
After the rape, Mustafa's family believed she had disgraced them, and her husband began beating her and would not allow her to leave, according to the filing. The beatings continued even after Mustafa and her husband moved to the Lombard area in 1991, according to the filing.
In sentencing Mustafa, Coar said he had sympathy for her plight, but could not consider it in sentencing.
"What happened to you in Kuwait was terrible and shameful," but had no connection to her criminal conduct while living in the United States, Coar said.
Mustafa, who has remained in custody since her arrest last year, would receive credit for time served, according to Coar. After she completes her sentence, Mustafa would be subject to deportation, the judge said.
In handing down the sentence for Wafa Mustafa, 35, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar said he was troubled by the defendant's long history of felony convictions in the years she spent in the United States.
Ha! No wonder her family wants to kill her! She is a crook!
The Judge was doing her a favor, he family can't kill her why she is in jail.
Castillo put her on five months probation for the conviction.
Why does she keep coming back to this terrible country? Why doesn't she go to the paradise of Europe or Mexico?
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