"Judge, you cannot imagine," Qatanani said, his voice breaking. "They say, 'We will kill your family

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/02/america/NA-GEN-US-Muslim-Cleric-Deportation.php

NEWARK, New Jersey: U.S. immigration lawyers sought to tie the influential leader of a U.S. mosque to terrorist-affiliated groups and individuals as part of their argument Monday that he should be deported.

Mohammad Qatanani, a Palestinian who has been the spiritual leader at the Islamic Center of Passaic County in New Jersey since 1996, is facing deportation on charges that he lied on his 1999 permanent residency application.

U.S. officials have said Qatanani failed to disclose a 1993 arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of the militant group Hamas.

Qatanani said he has never been a member of Hamas — which the U.S. government brands a terrorist group — and was detained, not arrested, in Israel, arguing that such detentions were routine at the time.

Qatanani began his testimony Monday — after asking his children to leave the courtroom — by graphically describing the torture he claims he was subjected to in Israeli custody.

Today in Americas
A primary donnybrook for the history booksMcCain attacks Obama as too easy on IranClinton weighs next move after victory in Puerto RicoQatanani describing being tied to a small chair with his hands bound, kept in a freezing cell, deprived of food and water, and subjected to violence and threats. Several of his supporters in the packed courtroom quietly wept.

"Judge, you cannot imagine," Qatanani said, his voice breaking. "They say, 'We will kill your family.' They say, 'You know what your family is doing now? We will go to them, we will burn them.'"

[UndertheOcean]

1. Sad

[Wilms]

2. .

[Hydra]

3. I would say that the world has gone insane

But apparently it has been for quite some time now.

[countryjake]

4. Kick & Recommend!