Visits to terrorist chat rooms put man in jail

[PornoDoggy]

Alleged Web visits to terrorist chat rooms put man in jail

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
Knight Ridder Newspapers

DETROIT - (KRT) - Mohammad Radwan Obeid is a threat to national security because he surfed terrorist Web sites and visited terrorist chat rooms, the FBI claims.

The 33-year-old Jordanian, who came to the United States with his American wife in 2001 and worked at a grocery store in Dayton, Ohio, before his arrest in March on immigration charges, says he was only gathering grist for a book about terrorism and world religions.

He said he volunteered to work for the FBI, but was rejected.

But a federal immigration judge in Detroit last week ordered Obeid jailed pending the outcome of charges that he entered the United States through marriage fraud. He also is being investigated by a federal grand jury.

"When taken altogether, the evidence establishes respondent presents a substantial risk to the national security of the United States," immigration judge Robert Newberry said in a June 22 decision denying Obeid's request to be released on bond. He is being held in the Monroe County Jail.

Newberry agreed with the FBI that Obeid's claims of writing a book, his recent conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses and other activities often are used by terrorists to avoid arrest and deportation.

Obeid's fiancee said Tuesday that the FBI is wrong about him.

"There's no way he could be a terrorist," said Misty Iddings, a 30-year-old nurse's aide from Piqua, Ohio. "He wouldn't hurt anybody. He's a very nice person. He's kind and friendly."

Obeid came to the United States in February 2001 as a conditional resident after marrying a Kansas City woman in Jordan, court papers said. Five months after they arrived, their marriage was annulled.

His lawyer, Najad Mehanna of Dearborn Heights, said her family wouldn't accept him because he was Muslim.

Afterward, Mehanna said, Obeid moved to the Dayton area, worked as a cashier at gas stations and convenience stores, and remarried. But the couple split up around May 2003 and he eventually met and moved in with Iddings .

In mid-2004, he became a Jehovah's Witness, decided to write a book about terrorism , and began surfing terrorism sites on the Internet.

Mehanna said Obeid was stunned by what he found on those sites and called the CIA and FBI. He said they didn't take him seriously.

On March 28, agents searched his home and on April 20, arrested him for immigration fraud.

The government has presented secret evidence at his deportation hearings to show that he is a threat to national security.

Obeid's lawyer said he probably would appeal the denial of bond. He also has requested asylum on grounds that Obeid would be persecuted if returned to Jordan because of the FBI's terrorism claims and his new faith.

But the lawyer concedes that Obeid is fighting a difficult battle, which resumes Sept. 19 in Detroit immigration court.

---

© 2005, Detroit Free Press.

Okay ... the guy's an illegal. He's obviously tried the marriage game to get and stay here, and done it in a pretty clumsy way. Seems to me they got lots of things to get him on, and (Kennedy forgive me for this) since I've heard of no shortage of potential gas station or 7-11 clerks, I got no problem with them sending him home.

But the mere fact that he visits particular websites as a reason for detention/deportation? I don't know about that one ...

[sarettah]

His name is "Muhammed", of course he's a threat to national security........


duh....

[PornoDoggy]

It just gets better.

Feds Say Patriot Act Has No Place In Homeless Suit

POSTED: 9:09 pm EDT June 29, 2005

NEWARK, N.J. -- The U.S. Justice Department is taking a New Jersey town to task for attempting to use the USA Patriot Act to justify kicking homeless people out of its train station.

A Justice Department spokesman said the town of Summit has no business invoking the anti-terrorism law in that way.

Summit was sued by a homeless man who was ejected from the train station. In a response to the suit, officials cited a section of the Patriot Act regarding "attacks and other violence against mass transportation systems."

The Justice Department spokesman called that "an overreaching application of the law."

[Bhelliom]

Originally posted by PornoDoggy@Jun 30 2005, 09:04 AM
It just gets better.

That's bloody hilarious... just goes to show you that people will twist anything to suit their own agendas.

[JR]

Originally posted by PornoDoggy@Jun 30 2005, 05:20 AM

Okay ... the guy's an illegal. He's obviously tried the marriage game to get and stay here, and done it in a pretty clumsy way. Seems to me they got lots of things to get him on, and (Kennedy forgive me for this) since I've heard of no shortage of potential gas station or 7-11 clerks, I got no problem with them sending him home.

But the mere fact that he visits particular websites as a reason for detention/deportation? I don't know about that one ...

Uhmmm.... doesn't the article clearly say that he was jailed because of immigration fraud?

[Dravyk]

Newberry agreed with the FBI that Obeid's claims of writing a book, his recent conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses and other activities often are used by terrorists to avoid arrest and deportation.

Ok. Who just envisioned 200 terrorists calling up the FBI and telling them they're writing a book?

Or that a third to two-thirds of all terrorists caught and identified (how many is that btw?) have claimed upon capture to be either an author or a Jehovah Witness??

[JR]

Originally posted by Dravyk@Jun 30 2005, 10:24 AM

Ok. Who just envisioned 200 terrorists calling up the FBI and telling them they're writing a book?

Or that a third to two-thirds of all terrorists caught and identified (how many is that btw?) have claimed upon capture to be either an author or a Jehovah Witness??

thats called "pulling a Pete Townsend"

[PornoDoggy]

Originally posted by JR@Jun 30 2005, 12:36 PM
Uhmmm.... doesn't the article clearly say that he was jailed because of immigration fraud?

Yes, it does - and if you read my post, you'll see that I said I don't have a problem with that at all.

But gimme a break - how does surfing to a website and scanning a BBS make one a terrorist?

It's one thing when a moron on a BBS argues that actually reading some material makes one a believer in whatever philosophy that material espouses. Hell, I've been accused of being a Marxist right here on Oprano because I have read some Marx (the German fella - not the one in my avatar).

It's quite another thing when morons like that start working for the FBI, and presenting lame-ass arguements like that to judges.

Maybe there's more to it - after all, nowdays Uncle Joe would approve of some of our court procedures, so we may not have the whole story - but taken by itself, that's the sort of arguement one expects to hear made in the courts of Cuba, Iran, and China, and strikes me as a good first step down the proverbial "slippery slope."

[JR]

Originally posted by PornoDoggy+Jun 30 2005, 11:58 AM-->