US authorities allege imam assisted radicals

[webfact]

US authorities allege imam assisted radicals
JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — U.S. authorities are seeking to revoke the citizenship of an imam in Oregon who they say tried to conceal past associations with radical Islamic groups.

Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye raised money, recruited fighters and provided training for insurgent groups battling Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Justice says in a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Government lawyers say Kariye for a time "dealt directly" with Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam, the founders of al-Qaida, and he recruited sympathizers in the United States and Pakistan for an al-Qaida precursor known as Maktab Al-Khidamat.

Kariye is also accused of being a founding officer and director of the now-defunct Global Relief Foundation, which authorities say provided assistance to terror groups including al-Qaida and promoted radical jihad.

Federal authorities say Kariye failed to reveal those details in his application for citizenship, which was granted in 1998.

Attempts to reach Kariye through his Portland mosque and a former attorney were not immediately successful.

Born in Somalia, Kariye came to the United States on a student visa in 1982, according to the complaint. Between 1985 and 1988, he traveled to Afghanistan, where he went to a jihadist training camp and fought with the Afghan mujahedeen against the Soviets. He helped process foreign fighters arriving in Pakistan for travel to training camps, authorities say, working directly with bin Laden and Azzam. At some point, he was arrested for his involvement with the mujahedeen and spent four months in a Pakistani prison.

After returning to the United States in 1988, he applied for asylum and swore under oath that he hadn't left the country or been arrested.

The Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, but the complaint alleges that Kariye returned to Pakistan in 1990 and worked for three years to recruit sympathizers and raise funds for Maktab Al-Khidamat, the precursor of al-Qaida. He was listed as the Oregon point of contact on a 1994 flyer advertising a nationwide fundraising tour for Afghan jihad.

As the longtime leader at Portland's largest mosque, Masjed As-Saber, Kariye is a well-known figure in the city's Islamic community. It was not immediately clear Monday whether Kariye is still the mosque's imam.

Local Muslims have known for years of the FBI's interest in him.

Kariye was arrested at Portland International Airport in 2002 by an FBI-led anti-terrorism task force. He pleaded guilty to using a fraudulent Social Security number and defrauding the state Medicaid program by lying about his income to receive state-funded health insurance. A federal judge sentenced him to five years on probation.

In a 2003 affidavit, the FBI said it believed Kariye provided support to seven Muslims who tried unsuccessfully to join the Taliban in fighting U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He was never charged.

Kariye was one of 10 people who in 2010 sued the federal government over their placement on the no-fly list. Eight others have since joined the case.

A federal judge in Portland ruled last year that the government must tell people what unclassified information was used to put them on the list, and if the information is classified, at least tell them the nature and extent of it.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Kariye and other plaintiffs in the case, filed a motion in April saying the government still hadn't provided them with enough information about their placement on the no-fly list.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-21

[halloween]

Where do radical muslims want to live? Not their own shitholes, that's for sure.

BTW under new laws in Oz, this <deleted> would likely have his citizenship cancelled and be on his way home.

[simple1]

Where do radical muslims want to live? Not their own shitholes, that's for sure.

BTW under new laws in Oz, this <deleted> would likely have his citizenship cancelled and be on his way home.

Why hasn't this guy been arrested, charged and detained?

For Oz would only be able to be returned to Somali if the government permits entry, otherwise would have to be held in detention in Oz.

[nuananddon]

Grant the sleezebag his wish and send him to paradise. ACLU should get their head out of their arse for once at least!

[mikebike]

Wait a minute... This means that, at that particular time, he was working FOR the US and allied forces AGAINST the evil USSR in the Afghani conflict. In fact, a little research shows, he and the groups he was working with were FUNDED by the NATO alliance and the CIA. I am struggling to understand... would it have been better if he was working for the USSR against the US?

[oneday]

"...Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Kariye and other plaintiffs in the case, filed a motion in April saying the government still hadn't provided them with enough information about their placement on the no-fly list..."

Too bad. Fry his (a#@ss)/behind , revoke his citizenship and send him to Afghanistan.

Edited July 21, 2015 by oneday

[LomSak27]

I am struggling to understand

Dear Struggling:

The US is looking for a way to legally give him the boot. The issue is; he did not mention it on his application for citizenship. Concealing that fact is a violation and one can indeed have one's citizenship revoked for concealing ones past history.

[devaram]

What this article does not mention is that Osamma bin Laden was on the payroll of the CIA at that time and the early Al Quaida was formed and created by Saudi, Isreali, and US governments to fight against the Soviets. So this guy was basicly helping the U.S. but the hypocritical U.S. is so deeply amnesiac about its own seedy and immoral involvements in the Middle East that they can paint a picture of this guy as if he is some kind of terrorist who should be deported when in fact they should be thanking him for helping to liberate Afghanistan from the Soviet occupation. The CIA created mujahideen who won the war with US backing felt abruptly abandoned annd betrayed by the CIA a grudge that eventually led to 9-11. Not saying this guy is a saint but hes probably more of a petty criminal than a terrorist.

Edited July 21, 2015 by devaram

[mikebike]

I am struggling to understand

Dear Struggling:

The US is looking for a way to legally give him the boot. The issue is; he did not mention it on his application for citizenship. Concealing that fact is a violation and one can indeed have one's citizenship revoked for concealing ones past history.

Yep, he forgot to mention he was on our side against the ruskies.... better boot him out! You cannot see the discrepancy here?

[halloween]

Where do radical muslims want to live? Not their own shitholes, that's for sure.

BTW under new laws in Oz, this <deleted> would likely have his citizenship cancelled and be on his way home.

Why hasn't this guy been arrested, charged and detained?

For Oz would only be able to be returned to Somali if the government permits entry, otherwise would have to be held in detention in Oz.

Making the big assumption they are going to ask. Robert Jovicic was given a week tourist visa and dumped in Belgrade. Eventually, they let him come back, but you can bet your black butt that boy is now behaving himself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jovicic

[halloween]

I am struggling to understand

Dear Struggling:

The US is looking for a way to legally give him the boot. The issue is; he did not mention it on his application for citizenship. Concealing that fact is a violation and one can indeed have one's citizenship revoked for concealing ones past history.

Yep, he forgot to mention he was on our side against the ruskies.... better boot him out! You cannot see the discrepancy here?

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.

[Neurath]

"Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye raised money, recruited fighters and provided training for insurgent groups battling Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Justice says in a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland."

Yep, if he lied about it on his application they can screw him. If he was up front about it, he could have been a hero in a movie starring Tom Hank's and Julia Roberts.

Sounds like exactly the sort of person you don't really want in the country, but not for the reasons stated. He and others like him are kinda like a Rottweiler that bit the balls of an intruder on your property but then later on tried to eat your wife.

[landslide]

His citizenship should have been revoked when he used a false Social Security number, defrauded the government to get free health care, and lied about leaving the US. One of the biggest problems in the USA is that we have laws, and yet they are not enforced. In Oregon, only 20% of those convicted of a felony actually serve any prison time. Probation is not a deterent. A felon in possesion of a gun has the gun taken away, but little else of consequence. Time to enforce the laws without exception.

[cookee68]

They should do it to all of them, he was already a convicted criminal trying to scam the country, should have kicked him out then, and that he did not disclose his connections to terrorist groups, should have been enough, and now he wants to sue the government because of a no fly &lt;deleted&gt;, came originally on a student visa

[simple1]

Where do radical muslims want to live? Not their own shitholes, that's for sure.

BTW under new laws in Oz, this <deleted> would likely have his citizenship cancelled and be on his way home.

Why hasn't this guy been arrested, charged and detained?

For Oz would only be able to be returned to Somali if the government permits entry, otherwise would have to be held in detention in Oz.

Making the big assumption they are going to ask. Robert Jovicic was given a week tourist visa and dumped in Belgrade. Eventually, they let him come back, but you can bet your black butt that boy is now behaving himself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jovicic

Exactly he was given a visa by the government of his original home country to facilitate his return. If a government refuses entry, Oz government cannot force a persons' return. A current example is return of Iranian refugees whereby Iran has refused entry for involuntary returnees.

Edited July 21, 2015 by simple1

[halloween]

Where do radical muslims want to live? Not their own shitholes, that's for sure.

BTW under new laws in Oz, this <deleted> would likely have his citizenship cancelled and be on his way home.

Why hasn't this guy been arrested, charged and detained?

For Oz would only be able to be returned to Somali if the government permits entry, otherwise would have to be held in detention in Oz.

Making the big assumption they are going to ask. Robert Jovicic was given a week tourist visa and dumped in Belgrade. Eventually, they let him come back, but you can bet your black butt that boy is now behaving himself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jovicic

Exactly he was given a visa by the government of his original home country to facilitate his return. If a government refuses entry, Oz government cannot force a persons' return. A current example is return of Iranian refugees whereby Iran has refused entry for involuntary returnees.

If you read the article you would have seen that he wasn't a citizen of his home country. All they did was purchase a tourist visa on his Oz passport before they cancelled it. Goodbye and you are on your own.

I understand there is a problem with countries refusing to accept involuntary returns. Let them rot in some hell hole until return looks good.

[FangFerang]

Cheney and Rumsfeld both for a time "dealt directly" with Osama bin Laden.

The Imam outlived his usefulness is all...

[kamahele]

Basically this guy was on "our" side by supporting the same radicals as we did to get the USSR out of Afghanistan. However, his continued support of the same radicals after 9/11 puts him in the enemy camp.