Egyptian Imam Agrees to Leave US for Qatar

Additional Reporting by Nasiba Dawood, IOL Staff

ANAHEIM, US, December 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – After almost two months of detention without bond, a US mosque leader said he's innocent of terrorist links but agreed to leave the United States, giving up his fight to remain in the country.

Wagdy Ghoneim, 53, an Orange County mosque leader from Egypt who US authorities claimed had given speeches that “could be considered supportive of terrorist organizations” agreed Tuesday, December 28, to leave the US voluntarily rather than fight a legal battle with immigration officials, Los Angles Times reported Wednesday, 29 December.

“I came to this country in peace,” Ghoneim said during a court hearing at which the deal was struck. “I did not come here to scare anybody,” the LA Times reported.

As part of the agreement with government attorneys, he avoids deportation in exchange for admitting he was in the United States in violation of his immigration status, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ghoneim, whose case has drawn widespread support from Muslims in Southern California, agreed to leave by January 7 for Qatar , where he holds a work visa, in exchange for his release.

His family, including his wife and seven children, also must leave the US . Immigration Judge D.D. Sitgraves approved the agreement, which bars Ghoneim's return for 10 years, LA Times reported.

Forced Deal

Contacted by IOL Wednesday, Ghoneim’s eldest son, Mohammed, said his father had actually intended to fight a legal battle over his stay in the United States , being sure he would eventually win.

“But his lawyer told him he would be facing only two options; to remain detained indefinitely without charge under anti-terror laws or to bail out.”

Mohammed further explained that his father applied to the US Immigration and Customs Office six months ago to renew his visa.

“In an unprecedented move, his application received no reply and his visa renewal was rejected without reasons.”

Ghoneim’s son, speaking to IOL over the phone from Alexandria, said that when it was clear the US authorities were bent on persecuting his father against all logic or laws, his attorney asked the judge to release her client, in return for voluntarily leaving the United States for Qatar .

“The attorney presented to the court a valid visa to Qatar my father obtained to work as a religious consultant with the Qatari Islamic Waqfs Authority.”

Unwarranted Charges

The US government has tried to accuse Ghoneim, who came to the US in 2001 from Egypt , of participation in fundraising activities around the country that could have helped terrorist organizations, according to Bill Odencrantz, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement director of field legal operations.

Ghoneim has not been charged with terrorist activity, however. Instead, he was arrested at his Anaheim home November 4, on suspicion of overstaying his religious-worker visa. He was charged with the immigration violation, Odencrantz said, “because it was the easiest charge to prove.”

On Tuesday, Ghoneim was in court to seek release on bond. But he faced questioning from Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney Elena Kusky, who quizzed him about speeches he has made.

Ghoneim's attorney, Valerie Curtis-Diop, called the government's line of questioning a “fishing expedition.”

“It's outrageous that they can arrest and detain someone with no real evidence,” Curtis-Diop said.

“These are the efforts the government thinks they need to take to find terrorists, but they're attacking the wrong people.”

Curtis-Diop said Richard Garcia, assistant director-in-charge of the L.A. office of the FBI, testified at an earlier hearing that the FBI did not have an interest in Ghoneim and did not request that he be detained.

More than 100 of Ghoneim's supporters, many of them members of the Islamic Institute of Orange County, where he serves as the imam, braved heavy rain and gusty winds Tuesday morning to protest his detainment.

Ghoneim was earlier transferred to a hospital with chest pains and then he was back at a San Pedro federal detention center Monday while his attorneys sought an emergency hearing to gain his release.

While at the hospital, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials turned away family and friends who sought to check on Ghoneim's condition, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported.

Respected Scholar

Ghoneim’s agreement to leave the country comes a day after Southern California Muslims met with Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Newport Beach , to protest his detention.

About two dozen Muslims presented a petition with more than 1,000 signatures to Cox, urging him to investigate the arrest of a man described by local Islamic leaders as a respected scholar.

Ghoneim, a native of Egypt , arrived in Detroit in 2001 on a visitor's visa. He was later authorized to remain in the United States on a visa for religious workers until June 20, 2004 , according to documents provided to his attorney by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

His attorney has said that Ghoneim applied for an extension of his visa and was awaiting word when federal agents arrested him.

Selective Application

After the hearing, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR, criticized the government's aggressive pursuit of the imam, according to the LA Times.

Ghoneim's case is part of a disturbing trend, which Ayloush described as “the selective application of laws on Muslims, especially on minor violations; the targeting of Muslim travellers at airports; the revoking of visas of Muslim visitors coming to the United States .”

The US government has this year revoked visas of the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, and Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan, who was scheduled to teach at the University of Notre Dame.

Many supporters, according to the LA Times, said they agreed with Ghoneim's decision to leave voluntarily but expressed sadness that the government believed he might be helping raise money for terrorists.

And some said they no longer believed that the U.S. supported freedom of speech and religion.

“I am very sad today," said Ghoneim's wife, Somaia. “When we came to the United States , we came for freedom, for free speech.”