Home      |      Weblog      |      Articles      |      Satire      |      Links      |      About      |      Contact


Militant Islam Monitor > Weblog > Radical cleric Foad Farahi appeals for asylum in the U.S. with the help of the American wing of The Muslim Brotherhood (MAS)

Radical cleric Foad Farahi appeals for asylum in the U.S. with the help of the American wing of The Muslim Brotherhood (MAS)

May 11, 2009

On his facebook page Imam Foad Farahi writes that he is a fan of radical hate clerics Yusuf Al Qaradawi ,Tariq Al Suweidan and bin Laden protege Ahmed Deedat. He was slated for deportation and classified as a Level 3 threat. Farahi is fighting to stay in the United States and claim asylum. The Muslim American Society (MAS) The American wing of the Muslim Brotherhood is in the forefront of providing Farahi with legal aid and keeping his case in the public eye.

"It [MAS] is the de facto arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S.," said Steven Emerson, director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "The agenda of the MAS is to ... impose Islamic law in the U.S., to undermine U.S. counterterrorism policy."

The MAS was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist movement created in Egypt in 1928. Radical members of the Brotherhood founded the terror group Hamas and were among the first members of Al Qaeda.

The Muslim American Society's former secretary general has acknowledged that the group was founded by the Brotherhood, and in 2004 he estimated that about half of MAS members were in the Muslim Brotherhood. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/08/rep-ellison-makes-pilgrimage-paid-group-critics-extremism/

(Not surprisingly Farahi lists MAS president Esam Omeish as his favorite politician on his facebook page).

Here is some information on the three of the clerics which Foahi claims to be a "fan" of.

"A leading Islamic cleric , al-Qaradawi also promises that eventually Islam will prevail over all other religions and a single Islamic state will rule the world.

Al-Qaradawi says some countries will fall to the armed Islamic jihad, but in others, such as the United States, victory will come through Da'awa - the teaching of Islam to non-Muslims - which will trigger Westerners to convert to Islam "in droves."

"We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through (the) sword, but through Da'awa," al-Qaradawi told members of the Muslim Arab Youth Association at the group's 1995 convention in Toledo, Ohio.

"Jihad can be with the pen and the tongue just as it can be with the sword and the spear. Islamic Jihad is not limited to military efforts only; it extends beyond this, including several means that Muslims need to utilize now more than ever."http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001104.php

Tariq Al Suiwedan is a Kuwaiti cleric who was banned from entering the United States. At a "Young Muslims Conference" in 2000 Suweidan stated:

  • "...even if a civilization is ready to crumble (such as the West, with all the characteristics of deterioration of past fallen empires), it will NOT fall until we, the Muslims, strive to give it that last push, the last straw that will break the camel's back." http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/1470

    "A SA Islamic activist has forged strong ties with the Bin Laden family, receiving substantial funding from them and, in the process, meeting Osama bin Laden, the man named as prime suspect in this week's terror attacks.

    Yousuf Deedat, 45, who triggered a storm when he distributed thousands of anti-Semitic handbills featuring a picture of Adolf Hitler during the World Conference Against Racism in Durban last week, said he first met Bin Laden in 1989.

    Deedat and his father, Muslim scholar Ahmed Deedat, met Bin Laden on several other occasions in Saudi Arabia that year and in the 1990s while they were drumming up support for the Islamic Propagation Centre International in Durban.

    "He was quiet-spoken, respectful and humble. When he met my father, he did not look him in the eye. That is the greatest honour an Arab can bestow on an elder," said Deedat.

    The Deedats have had close links with the Bin Laden family since first meeting Osama's elder brother, Sheikh Bakr bin Laden, in 1986. Since then, many of the 27 Bin Laden brothers have contributed generously to the centre. Sheikh Bakr alone gave the centre $3.1-million over eight years to buy a building, print the Koran in English and Zulu, and print and distribute Islamic literature.

    In appreciation, the Deedats named their building in Durban's Victoria Street after the family in 1988.

    During his tenure as secretary-general of the propagation centre, the Bin Ladens reportedly paid Yousuf Deedat a monthly salary of R900 000.

    Deedat said Bin Laden had invited him on a number of occasions to attend his lectures in Saudi Arabia. "He moved me to tears. He was a man of few words, but when he spoke in public, he had this magnetic effect on all who listened to him." Whether he was guilty or not, Deedat said, the US would always use him as a scapegoat". http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/365

  • While his case is pending Farahi has been waging jihad through da'wa by speaking at interfaith events like the one depicted in the article below entitled :" Imam Foad Farahi explains Faith to Christian and Jewish seniors".

    MIM:Farahi is the Imam of the Shamshuddin Islamic Center in North Miami Beach which is affiliated with AMANA (The American Muslim Association of North America) run by Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout. One of the directors of the center was Gulshair Shukrijumah, the father of dirty bomber wannabe Adnan Shukrijumah and an Islamist in his own right. Shukrijumah was a character witness for Clement Hampton El who was convicted of plotting a 'Day of Terror' in New York in 1993 together with the Blind Sheik Umar Abdul Rahman.

    [Zakkout's] affinity for terrorists has prompted him to host fundraisers for groups like Islamic Relief and become vice president of the Health Resource Center for Palestine- which openly solicited funds for the IAP [Islamic Association of Palestine the American wing of Hamas] on it's website. Besides hiring the father of dirty bomber wannabe Adnan Shukrijumah, Sofian also frequented mosques where terrorists worshipped such as Dar Ul Uloom in Pembroke Pines. Zakkout claims that he is a 'volunteer consultant to law enforcement' which really means he tells them that every terrorist he meets is a victim of discrimination and profiling.

    In 2003 Zakkout told a journalist that:

    I saw (El Shukrijumah, Padilla and Mandhai) at different times in different mosques, and I always said hello. Does that make me a terrorist?" http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/927

    --------------------------

    Foad Farahi's fan list on his facebook page is a Who's Who of hardcore Islamists.

    http://www.facebook.com/people/Foad-Farahi/542716898

    Celebrities / Public Figures Government Officials Politicians Music

    IMAM FOAD FARAHI Explains Faith to Christian and Jewish Seniors


    By Jaweed Kaleem MIAMI, FL (MiamiHerald.com) March 28, 2009

    The audience was just what you would expect in a Presbyterian church fellowship hall: mostly white and elderly. The speakers were not. Two Muslim imams, one African-American and the other Kuwaiti-born, were there to lead Islam 101.

    Foad Farahi spoke first, softly and in Arabic: Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim. "We can't hear you!" interjected a woman in the audience. "I think he's saying a prayer," said a woman seated nearby.

    Close enough. Farahi was sharing a common Islamic refrain: In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate. Sandwiched between sessions on Judaism and Presbyterianism, this Wednesday night class was part of a series called Religious Traditions sponsored by the University of Miami's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Osher offers low-cost classes for senior citizens on subjects including photography, memory enhancement and music appreciation. Most meet at the university's Coral Gables campus, but the institute branched out to Miami Shores last fall.

    Religious Traditions, which also covers Catholics, Quakers, Hindus and Unitarians, has attracted about 30 students to each one-hour session. A $10 fee includes dinner. While most mosques and churches are open to the public and interfaith dialogue is as old as the Silk Road, the discussion of Islam was a rare exchange among people from deeply different backgrounds.

    The African-American imam, Nasir Ahmed, 61, who lives in Sebastian and practices oral surgery at a Treasure Coast clinic, leads Friday prayers at the Al-Ansar mosque in Liberty City. Ahmed, who was raised Catholic and adopted a Muslim name when he converted, spoke with the fiery flare of a Sunday preacher. "No matter what you call God, the best of all names are his," he proclaimed.

    Farahi, 34, a graduate student in dietetics and nutrition at Florida International University, leads prayers at Masjid Shamsuddin, a storefront mosque in North Miami Beach.

    SHARED HERITAGE

    Wearing glasses and a trim black beard, Farahi read English translations from a Koran and pointed out the shared heritage of Judaism and Islam. "Jews, Muslims, we believe they are brothers from different mothers, if you could say that," Farahi said, because both groups descended from Abraham. The imams took turns fielding questions. "How many times do you pray?" asked Stephen Loffredo, 56, of Miami Shores. Muslims pray five times a day, including once in the mosque on Fridays, Ahmed said as he got down on the floor to demonstrate prostration. Audience members rose from their seats and peered over each others' shoulders for a good look.

    "But how do women fit into your religion?" asked Rose Voyce, 70, of North Miami, who had been to a mosque in Turkey and "never saw any women in it." "The mosque is the whole earth," Ahmed replied, adding that Muslims can pray almost anywhere. Women are not required to come to the mosque, but can come and sit in a separate area, he said. "What do you do about non-observant Muslims?" asked Tom Harrington, 79, as he flipped through pages of a Koran. Don't push the religion on them, the imams agreed. "I have 15 brothers and sisters — all Christians — so I'm pretty outnumbered," Ahmed said. Afterward, several in the audience, which included Jews as well as Christians, said they had found the class enlightening.

    "You can only play so much cards and see so many movies. I get quite bored," said June Newbauer, 83, a retired real estate agent who lives in North Miami. "The Middle East has been such an interest in our country with the war. It's very timely." Farahi, who often speaks to college students, said addressing an older audience in a church setting was a first for him. "People need to get together and talk and look at our similarities, especially when you live in such a diverse society," he said. "Don't worry about who is right or wrong."

    RELATED CLASSES

    Religious Traditions is among a handful of classes, including an overview of Middle Eastern politics and history, that Osher is offering in Miami Shores. "You can go to a university and get an academic view," said Noreen Frye, Osher director, "but it makes sense to bring clergy into contact with each other and teach people in religious environment. It's the perfect place for it." http://www.masnet.org/masnews.asp?id=5326

    --------------------------------------------------------------------

    http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=4617

    MAS Freedom Concerned About Gov't Targeting of Immigrant Muslim Activists and Clergy for Voluntary Departure

    Date Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2007


    Foad Farahi, Imam Shamsuddin Islamic Center of North Miami Beach, Florida, since April 2001.

    By Aishah Schwartz

    CORRECTION: Attorney John Pratt was originally named in error; the correct name of the attorney is Ira J. Kurzban, Esq., of Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger & Tetzeli, P.A.

    WASHINGTON, DC – Dec. 12, 2007 - (MASNET) MAS Freedom (MASF) Executive Director, Mahdi Bray, will attend a hearing in the Southern District Court of Florida on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 to monitor the deportation case of Foad Farahi vs. USA, et. al.

    Farahi, 33, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on November 26, 2007 and detained at the Krome Detention Center. The arrest classified Farahi as a Level-3 threat, usually applied to those convicted of high crimes or aggravated felonies, of which Farahi has been never charged or convicted in either category. The arrest would ordinarily have been classified as a Level-1 immigration violation, a result of unrecognized pending legal matters regarding Farahi's application for asylum.

    A citizen of Iran, born and raised in Kuwait, Farahi first came to the U.S. 14-years ago at the age of 18, on a Student (F-1) Visa. He completed his bachelor in chemistry at Barry University in 2002, and subsequently obtained his masters degree in Public Health from Florida International University where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate. Farahi has also worked as an Imam at Shamsuddin Islamic Center of North Miami Beach, Florida, since April 2001, and is a member of the Barry University interfaith committee.

    Farahi applied for asylum (from Iran) in August of 2002 and is qualified for Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture (CAT) according the U.N. Geneva Convention. However, his asylum proceedings have been delayed on numerous occasions over the past few years, until October 23, 2007, when he appeared at a hearing and was asked to withdraw his petition in exchange for being granted 30-days to voluntarily leave the country or face arrest on charges of supporting terrorist groups.

    Even if Farahi wanted to leave the country within the designated 30-days it is not possible. He has applied for asylum from Iran, his passport expired March 11, 2007, and there is insufficient time to renew a visa to Kuwait; to which he has no right to return, although he was born there - he does not hold Kuwaiti citizenship.

    Farahi has filed two appeals with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the most recent being on November 21, 2007. ICE reportedly has denied any knowledge of Farahi's BIA appeals, however he was released from Krome Detention Center on a $15,000 bond December 4, 2007.

    Attorney Ira J. Kurzban has filed an Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and/or Preliminary Injunctive Relief on Farahi's behalf, petitioning the court for a Temporary Restraining Order that would protect him from being moved to a detention center outside of the State of Florida, to grant him relief from detention pending final ruling on his removal proceedings and for his case to be re-examined due to depravation of his constitutional right of due process, and for not being offered the right to ask for Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture, despite known human rights violations in Iran.

    The primary concern now is that the U.S. government could pressure BIA to make a quick decision (a process that typically takes months and sometimes years) in denying Farahi's appeals, the consequence being that he would be taken into immediate custody and processed for deportation to Iran.

    WHO

    Foad Farahi v. USA, et. al.

    WHAT

    Hearing - Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

    Presiding Judge: Marcia G. Cooke

    WHEN

    Thursday, December 13, 2007

    WHERE

    150 Federal Courthouse Square 301 North Miami Avenue

    Miami, FL 33128

    Phone: 305-523-5100

    "MAS Freedom is gravely concerned of the possibility that activists and clergy are being unfairly targeted for immigration procedures that lead to early departure," stated Executive Director, Mahdi Bray.

    Additional information will follow proceeding Thursday's hearing.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    MAS Freedom (MASF) is a civic and human rights advocacy entity and sister organization of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the largest Muslim, grassroots, charitable, religious, social, cultural, civic and educational organization in America – with 55 chapters in 35 states. Learn more here.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    MAS Freedom

    1325 G Street NW, Suite 500

    Washington DC 20005

    Phone: (202) 552-7414

    Toll Free: 1-(888)-627-8471

    Fax: (703) 998-6526

    MASF on the Web

    Contact MASF by Email

    -------------------------------------

    IMMIGRATION : Cleric claims he was pressured to leave

    December 17, 2007

    Imam Foad Farahi, at the Shamsuddin Islamic Center, says he was pressured to agree to be deported to Iran.

    Immigration officials deny using coercion.A South Florida imam says U.S. officials pressured him to give up his immigration appeals and leave the country voluntarily. A Muslim group says the imam's case is part of a troubling trend in which religious leaders are compelled to become informants or risk being deported. Foad Farahi, 33, of the Shamsuddin Islamic Center in North Miami Beach, says a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutor offered him a deal: leave the country within 30 days, or face arrest for ‘'support of terrorist groups," he said. Three years ago, he said, the FBI sought him out to be an informant and he refused. ICE officials said there was no coercion. "These claims have no basis in fact," said Sean Teeling, ICE assistant field office director for detention and removal. "Mr. Farahi was represented by an attorney when he requested and was granted the benefit of voluntary departure." Farahi, an Iranian national, wants political asylum. He was born in Kuwait, but has an Iranian passport, based on his father's birthplace.

    A Sunni, Farahi said he fears being sent to Iran, where Shiites are the majority. The imam said Wednesday that he first accepted the voluntary departure offer out of fear. He has since hired a new lawyer in an attempt to overturn that decision. He was detained by ICE on Nov. 26 for more than a week and released on bond. Farahi has a hearing in Miami federal court Thursday to reopen his asylum petition. Ira Kurzban, a national authority on immigration law, is now representing him.The Muslim American Society maintains that Farahi's case is part of an "emerging pattern" affecting Muslim religious leaders offered voluntary departure. The group has confirmed four cases in the past two months and received 10 other complaints. "They tried to recruit these people as spies and snitches and all of the sudden find themselves being pushed into voluntary departure, and I can't help but believe there is a connection between the two," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the society's Freedom Foundation. "We are not opposed to standing up for this country and passing on information about acts of criminality," Bray said, "but law enforcement is not acting in the best way."Farahi's case highlights the growing frustration among Muslim groups since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, even as the FBI and other federal authorities say they continue to reach out to U.S. Muslim leaders. Teeling said "if they give us specific cases, we'll be glad to investigate." In 2004, Farahi said, FBI agents asked him to provide information on the community, offering him a ‘'stay of deportation" if he cooperated."His claims are not accurate," said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela. "Immigration [enforcement] is a totally separate issue that we have nothing to do with."Farahi says that in the years since the offer he has helped the FBI build good relations with Muslims.Farahi, who was born in Kuwait to a Syrian mother and an Iranian father, concedes his background might raise flags.‘Even though I haven't done anything wrong, I can see how these things might make people uncomfortable because I have [one-third] of the `axis of evil' in my background," he said. "Here, most of the cases are Cuban refugees. . . . they're not used to dealing with someone from the Middle East." Farahi has never been to Iran and does not speak Farsi. Under Kuwaiti laws, he is not entitled to citizenship and lost his residency status after coming to the U.S. to attend college in 1993.

    He was raised in his mother's Sunni religion. "I'm considered Americanized, so if I go back to Iran they may think I am an American agent," said Farahi. "There have been a lot of people in my situation who have been harassed."Deportations to Iran dropped from 60 in 2003 to 28 in 2005, according to the Homeland Security Department. The number of Iranians granted asylum also dropped during that time, from 322 to 140.Farahi has a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology from Barry University and a master's in public health. He lost his student visa in 1999 after failing to take enough credits. His efforts to reinstate that status were complicated by 9/11, he said. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in public health at Florida international University. His father, who owns a money-exchange business in Kuwait, has financed his education.Farahi became the imam at Shamsuddin in 2001. The storefront mosque, with about 200 congregants, serves a diverse Muslim community."It would be very difficult for us to find another imam who serves us so well, because we have such a wide cultural range," said Una Mohammed-Khan, the president of the center's board.Shamsuddin members have organized benefit dinners to raise funds for his legal defense.Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout, local director of the American Muslim Association of North America, praised Farahi. "This guy has been good for our American community," Zakkout said. "He deserves all of our support." http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/342727.html

    Farahi v. United States of America et al - 1:2007cv23116 - Justia ...

    Nov 30, 2007 ... Petitioner: Foad Farahi. Respondents: United States of America, Department of ... Petitioner: Foad Farahi. Search Dockets, [ Dockets ] ...
    dockets.justia.com/docket/court-flsdce/case_no-1:2007cv23116/case_id-306451/ - 55k - Cached - Similar pages

    -----------------------------

    http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=4620

    SIGN THE PETITION TODAY! Imam Foad Farahi - Journey to Asylum

    Date Posted: Tuesday, April 21, 2009


    IMAM FOAD FARAHI Explains Faith to Christian and Jewish Seniors (Article here: http://www.masnet.org/masnews.asp?id=5326)

    Join MAS Freedom in the Pursuit of Justice

    Sign the Petition Today Asking Attorney General Eric Holder to Support a Re-Hearing on the Political Asylum Case of Imam Foad Farahi.

    SIGN THE PETITION HERE

    ------

    Preliminary Victory for MAS Freedom Legal Fund as S. Miami District Court Judge Orders

    No Arrest or Deportation for Farahi

    Attorneys Successfully Protect the Right of Muslim Activists and Clergy to Appeal

    WASHINGTON, DC – Dec. 13, 2007 - (MASNET) Earlier today, MAS Freedom (MASF) Executive Director, Mahdi Bray, attended a hearing in the Southern District Court of Florida while monitoring the arrest and deportation case of Foad Farahi, 33, a Muslim activist and Imam at Shamsuddin Islamic Center of North Miami Beach, Florida.

    U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke granted the Temporary Restraining Order filed by Farahi's attorney, Ira J. Kurzban. The Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and/or Preliminary Injunctive Relief set out that Farahi not be moved to a detention center outside of the State of Florida; that he be granted relief from detention pending final ruling on his removal proceedings and for his case to be re-examined due to depravation of his constitutional right of due process.

    Farahi's attorney, provided by MAS Freedom's Legal Defense Fund, argued that the case involved a constitutional issue of equal protection, and that unless the U.S. District Court maintained jurisdiction, Farahi's current status with immigration would make him vulnerable for re-arrest, transfer, or deportation.

    Judge Cooke's order also stipulated that no further action be taken against Farahi without an additional ruling from her court on a habeas and 14th Amendment (equal protection under the law) petition.

    Farahi previously applied for asylum (from Iran) in August of 2002 and is qualified for Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture (CAT) according the U.N. Geneva Convention. However, his asylum proceedings have been delayed on numerous occasions over the past few years, until October 23, 2007, when he appeared at a scheduled hearing and was asked to withdraw his petition in exchange for being granted 30-days to voluntarily leave the country or face arrest on charges of supporting terrorist groups.

    Even if Farahi wanted to leave the country within the designated 30-days it is not possible. He has applied for asylum from Iran, his passport expired March 11, 2007, and there is insufficient time to renew a visa to Kuwait; to which he has no right to return, although he was born there - he does not hold Kuwaiti citizenship.

    Farahi was subsequently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on November 26, 2007 and detained at the Krome Detention Center.

    Farahi has filed two appeals with the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the most recent being on November 21, 2007. ICE reportedly has denied any knowledge of Farahi's BIA appeals, however he was released from Krome Detention Center on a $15,000 bond December 4, 2007.

    MAS Freedom Executive Director Mahdi Bray, who was also scheduled to testify as an expert witness in the proceedings stated, "the ruling in this case is a success in that it demonstrates the importance of the MAS Freedom Legal Fund. Through the fund we were able to obtain a top-notch immigration law firm to defend Farahi. Many cases similar to this one are lost simply because of poor legal representation."

    "We at MAS Freedom are determined, through our national legal fund, to provide excellent and highly qualified legal representation to our community in defending their rights. Currently the MAS Freedom Legal Fund has also provided an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals on behalf of Sabri Benkahla, and is currently pursuing the defense of Imam Kadir in Pittsburgh, PA," Bray concluded.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    MAS Freedom (MASF) is a civic and human rights advocacy entity and sister organization of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the largest Muslim, grassroots, charitable, religious, social, cultural, civic and educational organization in America – with 55 chapters in 35 states. Learn more here.

    -------------------------------------------------------------

    MAS Freedom

    1325 G Street NW, Suite 500

    Washington DC 20005

    Phone: (202) 552-7414

    Toll Free: 1-(888)-627-8471

    Fax: (703) 998-6526

    MASF on the Web

    Contact MASF by Email

  • -------------------------------

  • After Imam Foad Farahi declined to become a federal informant, the government tried to destroy him.
    By Trevor Aaronson
    Published on October 06

    Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards signs littered the lawns of North Miami Beach as Imam Foad Farahi walked from a mosque to his apartment a few blocks away. It was November 1, 2004, the day before George W. Bush would win a second term in office. But the Muslim holy man had been too busy fasting and praying to pay much attention to the presidential election.

    For Farahi, an Iranian citizen who had lived in the United States for more than a decade, it was simply another month of Ramadan in South Florida. Then, around 5 p.m., as he neared his apartment, he saw two men standing outside. They were waiting for him.

    "We're from the FBI," one of the men said.

    "OK," he responded.

    They wanted to know about Josι Padilla and Adnan El Shukrijumah, two South Florida men linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Padilla, the so-called Dirty Bomber, was arrested in May 2002 and initially given enemy combatant status. He eventually stood trial in Miami, was convicted on terrorism charges, and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Shukrijumah is a Saudi Arabian and an alleged Al-Qaeda member whose last known address was in Miramar. The FBI is offering up to $5 million for information leading directly to his capture.

    "I know Josι Padilla, but I don't know Adnan," Farahi told the agents.

    Of course, Farahi knew of Shukrijumah. As imam of the Shamsuddin Islamic Center in North Miami Beach, Farahi was in a unique position to know about local Muslims, including Padilla and Shukrijumah. Padilla had prayed at Farahi's mosque and was once among his Arabic students. Shukrijumah was the son of a local Islamic religious leader.

    "I have had no contact with Padilla since 1998, when he left the country," Farahi told the government agents. He had once met Shukrijumah but had no contact with him after that. "I don't know anything about his activities."

    "We want you to work with us," Farahi remembers the agents telling him.

    And this is when the imam's five-year battle with the federal government began.

    "I have no problem working with you guys or helping you out," Farahi said. He could keep them informed about the local Muslim community or translate Arabic. But the relationship, he insisted, would need to be public; others would have to know he was helping the government.

    But that wasn't what the FBI had in mind, Farahi says. The agents wanted him to become a secret informant who would investigate specific people. And they knew Farahi was in a vulnerable position. His student visa had expired, and he had asked the government for a renewal. He had also applied for political asylum, hoping one of those legal tracks would offer a way for him to stay in the United States indefinitely.

    "We'll give you residency," the agents promised. "We'll give you money to go to school."

    Farahi considered the offer for a moment and then shook his head.

    "I can't," he told them.

    The slender, bearded 34-year-old Farahi frowns as he recalls all of this while sitting on a white folding chair in the Shamsuddin Islamic Center on a recent afternoon. "People trust you as a religious figure, and you're trying to kind of deceive them," he says, remembering the choice he faced. "That's where the problem is."

    Farahi soon discovered the FBI's offer wasn't optional. The federal government used strong-arm tactics — including trying to have him deported and falsely claiming it had information linking him to terrorism — in an effort to force him to become an informant, he says.

    The imam has resisted the government at every step, having most recently taken his political asylum case to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

    "As long as you're not a citizen, there are lots of things [the government] can do," says Ira Kurzban, Farahi's attorney. "They can allege you're a terrorist and try to bring terrorist charges against you, or they can get you deported." Terrorism, he explains, can even be defined as giving "money to a hospital in the West Bank that turns out to be run by Hamas."

    Farahi asserts unequivocally he is innocent of any terrorism charges the government could bring against him. In fact, he says, he would report anyone in the Muslim community supporting terrorism. "From the Islamic perspective, it's your duty to respect the law, and if there's anything going on, any crime about to be committed, or any kind of harm to be caused to people or property, it should be reported to the police," he says.

    The FBI's intense efforts to pressure Farahi into becoming an informant reveal the bureau's desperation to infiltrate local Muslim communities. The hard-line tactics have become so widespread in the United States that the San Francisco-based civil rights group Muslim Advocates distributes a video advising how to respond if FBI agents approach.

    In fact, relations between the FBI and U.S. Islamic communities are so strained that a coalition of Muslim-American groups in March accused the government of using "McCarthy-era tactics" and threatened to sever communication with the FBI unless it "reassessed its use of agent provocateurs in Muslim communities."

    Despite this public conflict, few specific cases of Muslims being recruited as informants have become public. Farahi's battle with the government is not only daring but also unusual.

    "People have two choices," Farahi says. "Either they end up working with the FBI, or they leave the country on their own. It's just sometimes when you're in that situation, not many people are strong enough to stand up and resist and fight — to reject their offers."

    ———-

    By law, Foad Farahi is an Iranian. But by every other measure, the North Miami Beach imam is something else. In his 34 years, he has never set foot in Iran. He speaks Arabic, not Farsi, and while the majority of Iranians are members of the Shia sect of Islam, Farahi is a Sunni. He is an Iranian only because he inherited his father's citizenship.

    But Farahi grew up in Kuwait. His father was an Iranian businessman who operated a currency exchange business in Kuwait City. His mother, a Syrian, raised him and his younger sister to speak Arabic and worship as Sunnis. But he knew his future would never be secure in Kuwait. "Even if I married a Kuwaiti woman, I wouldn't become a citizen," he says. "Kuwait could deport me to Iran at any time for any reason."

    At age 19, he applied for and received a student visa from the United States. He chose to come to South Florida, where his family once vacationed when he was a teenager, and enrolled in Miami Dade College. He received an associate's degree there and transferred to Barry University, the private Catholic school in Miami Shores, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

    While at Barry, he served on the university's interfaith committee, several faculty members recall. This continued even after he graduated. He helped put together interfaith dinners and talked about Islam. In addition, he participated as a teacher in a Barry University peace forum attended by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim children. "He has had a positive influence at this university," says Edward R. Sunshine, a theology professor at Barry. No one who knows Farahi, Sunshine says, would suspect he is radical or militant in any way.

    Farahi went on to obtain a master's degree in public health from Florida International University. He also began an intensive, three-year imam's training course administered by the director of Islamic studies at a mosque in Miramar. In 2000, the Shamsuddin Islamic Center opened near his home in North Miami Beach. Six months later, its imam returned home to Egypt, and Farahi was a logical successor.

    In Islam, an imam is among the designated leaders in a community or mosque. The imam leads prayers during gatherings and helps others understand the teachings of Islam. Farahi earns a modest salary funded by donations to the mosque.

    It was through this position that he met several South Floridians who have been linked to terrorism. In addition to Padilla and Shukrijumah, he encountered Imran Mandhai, a 19-year-old Pakistani man living in Hollywood who was arrested in 2002 for an alleged plot to bomb power plants.

    "Imran came here once years ago during Ramadan," Farahi recalls as he sits in a corner of the mosque. "It was a big event for him at the time. He memorized and recited the Koran."

    When Farahi met with the FBI agents November 1, 2004, he said he couldn't spy on members of his mosque in good conscience. Two days later, FBI agents phoned him. They requested he come to their office to take a polygraph. "I had nothing to hide," Farahi recalls. "They asked the same questions over and over, to see if my answer would change, and it didn't."

    The agents were still focused on Shukrijumah.

    "What is your relationship with him?"

    "When was the last time you were in contact with him?"

    "Where is he now?"

    For two and a half years after the polygraph, Farahi didn't hear from the FBI. Then, in summer 2007, he received another call from the bureau. An agent asked to meet with him immediately. In Cooper City, two FBI agents — a man and a woman — again asked Farahi if he would work with the government. He again declined, and the meeting ended amicably.

    Farahi didn't know the pushback would come later.

    ———-

    On a November day in 2007, Farahi arrived at Miami Immigration Court for what he thought would be a routine hearing on his political asylum case. The imam had requested asylum because he is a Sunni, a persecuted religious minority in Iran. Fear of religious persecution is one of the internationally recognized grounds the United States considers in granting asylum from Iran.

    As Farahi entered the courthouse, he saw four men from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They wore body armor and had guns holstered at their sides. All followed Farahi from the security checkpoint on the ground level to the third-floor courtroom of Judge Carey Holliday.

    Farahi's attorney at the time, Mildred Morgado, spoke with the ICE agents and then asked to talk to Farahi in private. "They have a file with evidence that you're supporting or are involved in terrorist groups," Farahi recalls Morgado telling him. (Morgado did not return repeated calls seeking comment.)

    Farahi says the ICE agents gave him an ultimatum: Drop the asylum case and leave the United States voluntarily, or be charged as a terrorist. He was afraid.

    Indeed, luck wasn't on Farahi's side when drawing a judge for his asylum claim. Appointed to the immigration court in October 2006 by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Holliday was a Louisiana Republican who had quickly earned a reputation for being tough on immigrants in Florida. In one case, he declined to hear arguments from an Ecuadorian couple who alleged they were targeted for deportation because their daughter, Miami Dade College student Gabby Pacheco, was a well-known activist for immigration reform. "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones," Holliday wrote. (The judge resigned this past January, after the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found Bush administration officials had illegally considered political affiliation when selecting judicial candidates for immigration court.)

    So Farahi told Judge Holliday he would voluntarily leave the country within 30 days. Although Farahi's Iranian passport was expired — a bureaucratic problem that should have given him more time to consider the government's threat — Judge Holliday granted the order of voluntary departure.

    Soon, Farahi realized the government's claim that it would prosecute him as a terrorist was a bluff — nothing more than leverage to coerce him into becoming an informant. To this day, the government has not shared with Farahi or his attorney any information about this professed evidence, and he has not been charged with a crime.

    "If they have something on Foad, they should make it public. They haven't done that," says Sunshine, the Barry University theology professor. "They are intimidating and bullying, and I resent that type of behavior being paid for by my tax dollars."

    Farahi's assertion that the government is trying to coerce him to become an informant cannot be verified independently because the FBI won't comment on his case. "It is a matter of policy that we do not confirm or deny who we have asked to be a source," says Miami FBI Special Agent Judy Orihuela. But similar claims from other would-be informants seem to support Farahi's assertion.

    In November 2005, for example, immigration officials questioned Yassine Ouassif, a 24-year-old Moroccan with a green card, as he crossed into New York from Canada. The officials confiscated his green card and instructed him to meet an FBI agent in Oakland, California. The bureau's offer: Become an informant or be deported. Ouassif refused to spy and won his deportation case with the help of National Legal Sanctuary for Community Advancement, a nonprofit that advocates for civil rights on behalf of Muslims and immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia.

    The government employed a similarly tough tactic against Tarek Mehanna, a 26-year-old U.S. citizen living in Sudbury, Massachusetts. After FBI agents failed to persuade Mehanna to spy, the government charged him with making a false statement. Prosecutors allege Mehanna told FBI agents a suspect was in Egypt when he knew that person was in Somalia. Mehanna is awaiting trial, and his attorney has alleged the prosecution is a form of revenge for Mehanna's unwillingness to be an informant.

    Among more recent cases is that of Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. Charged with making a false statement to obtain citizenship, he alleged in a February detention hearing in Orange County, California, that he was arrested and indicted for refusing to be an informant.

    The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) suspects there are hundreds of similar cases in which the government has used deportation or criminal charges to force cooperation from informants. Most of these cases will never be made public. What's more, the FBI is now working under guidelines, approved in December 2008 by then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey, that allow agents to consider religion and ethnic background when launching undercover investigations. Today, many Muslims in the United States simply assume informants are working inside their mosques.

    "This is becoming increasingly common," says Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's national communications director. "Law enforcement authorities seek to use some vulnerability of the individual, whether it be business, immigration, or personal, to try to gain some sort of informant status.

    "The issue is law enforcement's basic understanding of the community. Is it one that law enforcement needs to have blanket suspicion toward or is it… well integrated into our multi-faith nation and wants to preserve public safety as well as civil liberties?"

    ———-

    Ira Kurzban's law office in Miami is a mile from the alfresco restaurants of Coconut Grove. On a hot day in late August, Kurzban wears a white guayabera and shows no concern for the disheveled gray hairs on the sides of his balding head.

    He leans forward at his desk, having been asked a question about Farahi. "He's an imam in his mosque," Kurzban says as he throws his hands in the air in a sort of protest. "He's basically, you know, the rabbi."

    Kurzban has become a well-known advocate for immigrants' rights, having argued more immigration-related cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any of his peers. He is also on the board of directors of Immigrants' List, the first political action committee in Washington, D.C., established to support candidates who endorse immigration reform.

    Farahi, desperate not to leave the country but frightened after government agents threatened to charge him as a terrorist, hired Kurzban to take his case on appeal.

    In November 2007, Kurzban asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to throw out Farahi's voluntary departure order and reopen his political asylum case, arguing the imam was illegally intimidated. The board denied the request, so Kurzban petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Farahi's order of voluntary departure has been stayed.

    For now, the legal battle makes Farahi a kind of no-land's man. He no longer has an official immigration status in the United States, and in asking for political asylum, he has rejected his Iranian citizenship. As he was in Kuwait, Farahi is home in a land that could expel him at any time.

    "I think the real issue is, does the government have the right to pressure people… to make them informants?" Kurzban says. "It's clearly modus operandi of the FBI to (a) recruit people who are going to be informants and (b) to use whatever leverage they can."

    A few weeks later, in North Miami Beach, Ramadan is nearing its end. For Farahi, this year's religious festival marks nearly five years since the FBI first asked him to be an informant. "I'm not bitter about what has happened," the imam insists.

    Dressed in khaki pants and a white button-down shirt, he walks barefoot through the mosque as members begin to arrange food on folding banquet tables. After sundown, everyone will eat and drink together to break the fast. Farahi is distracted as he waves at attendees and hugs others entering the mosque.

    "I'm not bitter," he repeats after a few moments. "I wouldn't say I'm bitter at all. But I'm tired. I want to live my life in this country. I want to stay here. That's all."

    Farahi stops and waves to another man. The imam shakes his head quickly. "I wish the case would be over," he says. "I just wish I could stay here."

    Research for this story was supported in part by a grant from Political Research Associates, with funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies.

    http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2009-10-08/news/unholy-war-fbi-tries-to-deport-north-miami-beach-imam-foad-farahi-for-refusing-to-be-an-informant/3

    Printer-friendly version   Email this item to a friend