Lane Lambert posted this article about Muhammad Masood, Sharon Imam in Legal Twilight Zone, who had a hearing at the Moakley Federal CourthHouse today. The government has charged Masood with nine criminal counts for alleged visa fraud and making false statements. Lambert provides additional background on Masood, and he conveys the sense that nobody is talking about this case. Almost everybody, it seems, declined to comment except for Masood's attorneys. Difficult for a reporter to do his job!
Excerpts from today's Patriot Ledger:
"Imam Muhammad Masood may or may not show up today for a status hearing in Boston on the government’s criminal case against him for alleged visa fraud."
"He doesn’t have to go back to the Moakley Federal Courthouse. Free on bail since he was arrested in July and entered a not-guilty plea at his August arraignment, he can let his lawyer and federal prosecutors take care of evidence sharing and other procedural points. And in its own way, that highlights the twilight zone in which the Pakistan native is living."
Masood's background:
"He grew up in a time and place of conflict. Born in 1958 near Sargodha, in eastern Pakistan, he was 7 when Pakistan and India fought their first war in 1965. He was 13 when Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan and India defeated his nation in a second war. A big air base at Sarghoda was bombed in the 1971 war."
"His father was a teacher and imam who mediated neighborhood disputes. In past interviews, Imam Masood said he was inspired to religious studies by his father’s example - as were his two brothers, Mohammed Saeed and Hamid Mahmood. As young men, both Saeed and Masood memorized the entire Quran for recitation at mosques. That earned both of them the title ‘'hafiz'.’’
More on the brothers:
"Mahmood later became an imam as well, and in 1999 he became spiritual leader at the Islamic Center of Greater Worcester. In June of this year - a month before Imam Masood was arrested - he and his family abruptly returned to Pakistan."
"....In 1990, as Imam Masood finished his second year at BU, his brother Hafiz Saeed founded Lashkar e Toiba (Army of the Pure), an extremist Islamist group that would be declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations a decade later. Imam Masood has said he never supported his brother’s actions or ideology and that he can’t remember the last time he spoke to Saeed."
Hmmm, if only there were a way to know if that were true or not.....
Apparently, the interfaith folks had no idea about Masood's brothers, even Hamid Mamood living 25 or 30 miles away in Worcester, Maccaschusetts. A bit odd, that.
The crux of the government's case is that Masood was supposed to go back to Pakistan in 1991 for two years under the terms of his J-1 temporary exchange visa. Masood said he did return to Pakistan, and then re-entered the U.S. under unique circumstances. There are no records that he left and came back, and there are ample records that he was actually in the U.S. at that time. Masood's explanation, found in the U.S. ICE agent's affidavit (recapped here), has been dubbed the "Men in Black" story:
"In a 2003 immigration interview for a religious-worker visa, Imam Masood explained his re-entry with an account that some who have read the affidavit have dubbed the ‘‘men in black’’ story, a reference to the shadowy agents who show up in pop-culture conspiracy theories." (Or the movie MIB - MK)
"Imam Masood told immigration agents that two men he didn’t know helped him onto his 1993 flight from Islamabad - after they took his passport - and that two white Americans in business suits with no badges met him at the baggage claim at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He said that duo ''appeared to know the immigration officers’ and escorted him through an unmarked door so he didn’t have to go through customs."
"The imam acknowledged that he had no proof of his account. According to the affidavit, there are no State Department or Customs records of any departure or return after 1990."
Masood as imam at the Islamic Center of New England:
"In 1998, almost everyone seemed to have been taken by surprise when the Islamic Center’s top handful of board officers announced that Imam Masood would be the spiritual leader for the Sharon mosque, which opened in 1993 as a satellite to the Quincy mosque."
"Until Imam Masood’s hiring, Imam Talal Eid of Quincy had been spiritual director for both mosques. Imam Eid left in 2005, after 23 years at the Islamic Center. He declined comment about Imam Masood for this story, though in past interviews he said he was not involved in Imam Masood’s employment."
"One former Islamic Center board member who brought Imam Masood to Sharon also declined to talk about why the board chose Imam Masood. Another former board member who was closely involved did not respond to an interview request from The Patriot Ledger.""The maneuver ignited years of conflict within the board and among the general membership, and the dispute boiled into the open when Imam Eid resigned and then unsuccessfully tried to withdraw the resignation. The Islamic Center hired Imam Khalid Nasr to replace Imam Eid in Quincy, while Imam Masood continued to lead worship in Sharon."
Status of deportation case:
"Why the government launched the criminal case this summer, with the family’s Oct. 11 deportation hearing less than three months away, is unclear. Legal experts declined to speculate, and the U.S. Attorney’s office is not commenting on the move."
"Also unclear is how soon either case will be decided. A U.S. Attorney’s office spokeswoman said Imam Masood could have a number of additional pretrial hearings like today’s, and attorney William Joyce says soon he will ask the immigration judge to postpone the deportation hearing while the criminal case proceeds."
Stay tuned! Next court date is October 18th, 2007 at 2 P.M.
You can review all my previous blog posts about this case here.
im rafi alam i like u my fried i like work with u i like help u u tell me anny time my cell number +639269403686 im pakistani but i live philpinines country
Posted by: rafi | January 20, 2008 at 02:38 AM