Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The defendant is accused of belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, among others.
AKRON (AP) -- Defense attorneys representing an Islamic leader accused of concealing ties to terrorist groups say the case against him simply comes down to three statements he made when he applied for U.S. citizenship.
But testimony in the trial of Fawaz Damra, the Palestinian-born imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, involves a complex web of events dating back more than a decade, involving numerous organizations and several federal agencies. Testimony was to resume today.
Damra, 41, has pleaded innocent to a charge of obtaining U.S. citizenship in 1994 by providing false information. He is accused of having connections with terrorist groups including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and not revealing them when he applied for citizenship.
If convicted, Damra could lose his citizenship, be fined $5,000 and be sentenced to up to five years in prison before being deported.
FBI agent testifies
Special FBI agent Bradley Beman testified Tuesday that Damra told him during an October 2003 interview that he was a founder of Afghan Refugee Services, also known as al-Kifah, which means "the struggle" in Arabic. The group supported Afghanistan's fight against the Soviets, Beman said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cherie Krigsman told jurors in her opening statement earlier Tuesday in U.S. District Court that when Damra applied for citizenship, he concealed ties to ARS and the Islamic Committee for Palestine, groups the government classifies as terrorist organizations.
The prosecution is attempting to prove that Damra lied on his application about three things: his ties to the groups, whether he persecuted people because of their race or religion and whether he had ever been charged with a crime.
Defense attorney John Cline told jurors that the imam was not affiliated with the groups, never persecuted anyone and that an assault charge against him was dismissed.
Detective Louis Napoli of the New York City office of the Joint Terrorism Task Force testified that Afghan Refugee Services was housed in the same Brooklyn, N.Y., building as the Al-Farouq mosque, where Damra was previously the imam.
About 25 Damra supporters were in the courtroom Tuesday, including Haider Alawan, a member of the governing board of elders at the imam's mosque. He said that he thought, so far, that U.S. District Judge James Gwin was handling the trial fairly.
Krigsman said during her opening that Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech.
Cline said Damra's language should not be considered as persecution of Jews. Damra said "ugly things" about Jews, but that should not sway jurors' decision, Cline said.
"You may well by the end of this case not like Mr. Damra. This is not a popularity contest. You are not here to decide whether Damra was a nice man," Cline said.