Posted on 06/16/2004 5:31:58 PM PDT by sarcasm
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - Testimony in the trial of an Islamic cleric accused of lying on his application for U.S. citizenship ended Wednesday after federal prosecutors showed video footage of the defendant raising money for a suspected terrorist group.
Fawaz Damra, the Palestinian-born imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, is charged with lying about his connections to terrorist organizations when he applied for citizenship in 1994.
Damra, 41, has pleaded innocent. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison, stripped of his citizenship and deported.
Jurors watched a 1991 video of Damra speaking at the Beit Hanina Club in Cleveland, a social group for Palestinians, urging the audience to donate money for the Islamic Committee for Palestine, which he described as an ``active arm of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in America.''
Matthew Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, testified that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989.
In several of the videos, Damra referred to Jews as ``the sons of monkeys and pigs'' and shouted that ``terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation.'' At one of the fund-raisers, children sat on a stage singing songs and a young girl chanted in Arabic, ``Death to Israel.''
Damra's defense team did not call any witnesses. Attorney John Cline told jurors Tuesday that Damra may have supported certain groups, but he did not consider himself a member or affiliate of them.
Cline asked U.S. District Judge James Gwin for an acquittal based on insufficient evidence. The judge said he would consider the request after the jury reached a verdict.
Closing arguments were scheduled for Thursday.
Why was this terrorist even allowed to apply for citizenship? Makes you wonder how many are citizens! Gee, thanks Bill!
"I fought for America...before I fought against it".--John F. Kerry
IIRC, this imam was profiled on "NOW", the PBS show done by Bill Moyers.
Hard to believe it now...but in the day soon after 9-11, the report was pretty critical
of the imam's duplicity: saying nice things publically, railing against the Jews and
other infidels in private.
Juries should be given the option of deporting a convicted felon. This should not be left in the hands of either the judge or the INS.
If I were on the jury I'd vote to hang the bastard.
The jihad is the only way and rhetoric like this is almost past hanging and comes darn near a dragging offense. Or drawing and quartering, or boiling in oil, or you get the idea.
If Kerry wins this November, they'll be prosecuting law enforcement officials for "profiling" suspected terrorists.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.