Cleveland Imam Deported To Middle East

A Muslim leader from Ohio who was convicted of lying about his involvement with a group the U.S. government designated a terrorist organization has been deported to his native Palestinian territories, immigration authorities said Friday.

Fawaz Damra, 46, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing his ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994.

Damra, who served as imam at one of the Cleveland's largest mosques, was deported on Thursday, said Tim Counts, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"It happened Thursday morning about 4 or 5 a.m.," Counts said. "He was flown into Jordan and from there crossed the bridge into the Palestinian Territories."

Federal officials obtained a 1991 video of Damra at a Muslim gathering in Cleveland where he mocked Jews in Arabic as "pigs and monkeys" and raised money for the killing of Jews by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

Earlier, Damra had agreed to be deported to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan or Egypt. He was denied entry into Canada last year.