The Damra saga [ Cleveland Ohio, The Plain Dealer ]

[Sara Bradi]

"Damra now gone, but saga continues"

...
When federal agents told him on Jan. 3 that he was flying to New York City for a hearing, Damra suspected he might soon be released on bond.

He had reason to believe he might soon see his wife and three daughters at home in Strongsville.

The hopeful news was cruel deception, says Damra's Israeli lawyer, who relayed his version of events.

Damra, the former spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, never reached New York.

From the Newark, N.J., airport, he was flown to Amman, Jordan, driven to an Israeli-controlled bridge spanning the Jordan River and told he was cleared to enter the West Bank, where he had grown up.

He walked into the embrace of Israeli authorities, who took him to a new prison, this one in northern Israel.

"It was obvious he was to be arrested," said Smadar Ben-Natan, a Tel-Aviv lawyer who spoke to her new client Wednesday. "He said the Israelis were waiting for him."
...

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/116876792711290.xml&coll=2

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/116876792711290.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

[ohio2007]

1. he did make a video slamming a certain middle east group

Calling them "The sons of pigs and monkies"
That was
pretty damning evidence for the young firebrand cleric you have to admit.

[Sara Bradi]

3. sure he made a mistake

EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE, makes mistakes, heck even our illustrious prez admitted to making
mistakes, leading to the war in Iraq & to the disastrous handling of Katrina.

To pardon Fawaz for his past mistakes and bring him into the fold would have been the
christian thing to do.

To strip Fawaz of his citizenship but give him legal status and work out a compromise would
have been a reasonable carriage of justice.

To deport him to his native land would have been a punishment in large excess of his mistake.

To deport him into the hands of the Israelis was a gross miscarriage of justice.

Do you agree ?

[Sara Bradi]

2. CNN special report

(I emphasize this isn't an Arab-Israeli issue, it is about mistakes by our government)

I watched a CNN special report "The War Within", by Christiane Amanpoor.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/shows/war.within/in...

The US ambassador to the UK, perhaps our closest diplomatic tie, was reaching out to muslims
in UK attempting to explain that the administration is not anti-muslim.

And the Justice Department did everything it could to alienate muslims in Ohio, Michigan &
Illinois where Fawaz served in different capacities.

Let me see if I have this right, Billions of tax payer dollars spent in operating propaganda
machinery in Iraq & around the world, Billions paid to informants for flawed intelligence to
start an illegal & immoral war, We have angered muslims not only in the middle east but
around the world, The US ambassador to UK is playing suck-up / kiss-ass to angry muslims in UK,
millions of illegal aliens get a FREE pass inside our borders...

Yet, one man, who apologized for his past mistakes, who had renounced his ties to militant
groups, who preached tolerance and interfaith outreach after 9/11, was literally picked up
and handed over to a country that is all but guaranteed to torture him.

The government squandered a golden opportunity to pardon Fawaz and build goodwill in muslim
communities, thru him.

If nothing else, it was a stupid move that negates some of the good things we do around
the world.

[Scurrilous]

4. Israel military court orders release of ex-Ohio imam

<snip>

"A military judge in Israel on Tuesday ordered the release of Imam Fawaz Damra, former leader of Ohio's largest mosque, the Islamic Center of Cleveland, claiming there was insufficient evidence to hold him. Damra's lawyer told AP that the release order came after the court refused to grant a prosecution request to extend his detention. Damra was arrested by Israeli authorities in early January after he was deported to the West Bank via Jordan.

Born in the Palestinian Authority, Damra was indicted in the US in 2003 on charges of concealing ties to alleged terrorist groups when he applied for US citizenship; he was sentenced in 2004 by an Ohio district court to two months in federal prison and four months of house arrest. Prosecutors also asked for a revocation of Damra's citizenship, but the judge did not rule on the issue at the time. He was arrested in Ohio in late 2005 as a threat to national security and agreed to deportation in January 2006 rather than face new charges of terrorist ties; the process was delayed as officials sought a nation to accept Damra."

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/01/israel-military-court-orders-release.php

[Eugene]

5. Shin Bet releases Muslim cleric detained for aiding Islamic Jihad (Haaretz/AP)

Shin Bet releases Muslim cleric detained for aiding Islamic Jihad
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and AP

A military court on Sunday released Fawaz Damra, the former imam of Ohio's largest
mosque, who was detained earlier this month on suspicion of fundraising for Islamic Jihad.

The decision to release the suspect was made after the Shin Bet came to the conclusion
that there were not sufficient grounds for an indictment.

Damra, originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, had his American citizenship revoked
due to suspicions that he raised funds for the militant group 15 years ago.

Following his release from Kishon prison, Damra traveled to visit relatives in Nablus.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/817862.html

[Sara Bradi]

6. The Israeli authorities showed more sense than our govt. n/t