Update from the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, MA on Imam Muhammed Masood's deportation hearing held yesterday (5-9-07), reported by Lane Lambert. The Patriot Ledger is the only US newspaper which has followed this immigration/religious visa fraud case closely. Newspapers in Pakistan and India are on top of this story because of Masood's familial connection to Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba (more on that earlier here). The scoop is that Masood's deportation hearing has been scheduled for October 11, 2007, five months away. The story is not available online, so I'm reprinting it here:
BOSTON - Imam Muhammad Masood and his family must wait five more months to learn what their fate may be. Immigration Court Judge Robin Feder has scheduled an Oct. 11 deportation hearing for the former Sharon imam, his wife and their five adult children.
Their attorney, William Joyce of Duxbury, asked for a July hearing, but Oct. 11 was the earliest date that Feder could take the full day that government attorney Douglas Ligor requested. "This case is going to be complicated," Ligor told Feder.
A full day for a deportation hearing?? Must be a number of interesting witnesses coming to testify. Gosh, even I'm starting to feel sorry for the Masoods! Five months is a long time to hang around, on top of the previous six months since the arrest in November 2006. I guess these deportation cases take a long time.
The imam, his son Hassan and a Chelmsford imam were picked up in November 2006 as part of a multi-state sweep by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Imam Masood had no comment after yesterday's preliminary session at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, but Joyce was clearly frustrated about the delay. "My client is hanging out there in the wind," Joyce said, adding that the imam has with no work permit and no way to earn a living at the Islamic Center of New England or anywhere else.
Imam Masood had been spiritual leader at the Islamic Center's Sharon mosque since 1998. He applied for a green card in 2001. The status of his wife and five of their eight children hinges on the outcome of his case. The imam's three youngest children are American-born and not affected.
Sharon? Some call it "Sheerunistan". Many members of the Islamic community in Sharon (one of the oldest Islamic communities in America) maintain that their mosque was taken away from them by an outside group. Masood was installed as imam at the Sharon center after Talal Eid was forced out. Lane Lambert has written about that controversy (here and here). More info on this can be found here, at the ICNE Founder's Website.
Imam Masood is charged with visa violations that date back to July 1991. The government claims that he never left the United States as he was required to do in a student visa program in which he studied economics at Boston University from 1988 to 1991. The government's evidence in cludes a 1992 traffic ticket in Imam Masood's name. ICE apparently will also call witnesses to place the imam in the country around that time. The imam says he did return to his native country of Pakistan, but re-entered this country illegally in 1993 and later paid an amnesty fine. He says someone else was using his driver's license in 1992 when the ticket was issued.
A fresh wrinkle in the case came to light yesterday. The government's amended charges say the imam re turned to the United States on his "J- 1" student visa in July 1990 and was allowed to stay until July 1, 1991. Joyce confirmed Imam Masood's 1990 overseas trip, which would have been legal. Joyce conceded it will be difficult for the imam to prove his case, if only because it may not be possible to gather witnesses and other evidence from overseas from 1991-93. "That was a long time ago, and any one who could say he was over there is in Pakistan, not the U.S.," Joyce said.
For the time being, the family is still living in its their residence on the mosque property, though they may have to leave. Since the Islamic Center board of directors removed Imam Masood from official duties the family has been supported by members of the congregation and money from recent fund-raisers in the Boston-area Muslim community. It's not clear whether Imam Masood can regain his work permit while his case is pending.
Joyce said the imam and his family will apply for political asylum if they're ordered deported, on the grounds that it would be dangerous for them to live there - partly because his brother, Hafiz Saeed, is the founder of a banned terrorist group that still holds widespread sympathy in Pakistan. Imam Masood has denounced his brother's violence and says he has not spoken to him for a long time.
I'll repeat my previous thoughts on the tactic of applying for political asylum:
"How do you say "chutzpah" in Urdu? That's almost a clever twist, but I suspect it won't work. Presumably, there are ample records of family members coming and going back and forth to Pakistan over the past few years, all without incidents or attacks from Brother Hafiz."
"....Muhammed Masood said "I am not my brother" at an interfaith community meeting in January 2007, when one of the local clergy asked about Masood's relationship with Hafiz. But for that inquiry, Masood would probably never have mentioned his infamous brother. Gee, why didn't Masood "disown" his brother any earlier than January 2007? We heard no condemnation from Masood after the LeT's suicide bombing of the Indian Parliament in 2002 or after the Delhi market bombings in 2005? Political asylum, my foot!"
Although Masood now states that he opposes his brother's "politics," has that always been so? What do we know of Masood's earlier years? Did he previously support LeT?
I support the government's efforts here, they're doing what ICE is supposed to do, protect our borders and make sure there's not abuse of the religious visa program. Thank you, ICE and DOJ. Thanks also to the Patriot Ledger for following this.
I'm curious about what's going on with the other imam picked up last November, Imam Abdul Hannan of the Islamic Society of Greater Lowell, Masood's brother-in-law. Nothing in the press about that. And what about Mystery Man No. 4 picked up in Worcester last November? Arghhh!! Enquiring minds want to know!
The Daily Times of Pakistan lost no time in picking up this story too.
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