Shin Bet confirms arrest of former imam deported by U.S.

Israel arrested the former imam of Ohio's largest mosque after he wasdeported from the United States last week, the Shin Bet internal securityservice said Tuesday, ending a four-day mystery about his whereabouts.

Haaretz, By AP

Fawaz Damra, 46, was arrested because of his ties to Islamic Jihad, aPalestinian group classified by Israel and the U.S. as a terrororganization, the Shin Bet told The Associated Press. It gave no otherdetails.

Smadar Ben-Natan, the Israeli attorney retained by Damra's family torepresent him, said Damra was being held at the Kishon prison facility inIsrael. She planned to see her client on Wednesday.

Damra, a Palestinian originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, wasdeported by American authorities last week because he concealed his ties to Islamic Jihad when he applied for American citizenship in 1994. However, relatives waiting for him to enter the West Bank from Jordan on Friday said he never showed up.

"We waited for him all day and he didn't come," said Nabil Zamra, the imam's brother. "He is not an extremist and we don't understand why he was arrested." "My mother is crying. Our house is sad. My father, who is 83, is waiting for his son. We pray that my brother will come home and see his father before he dies," he said. (roy: Cunoastem, cunoastem...Dragutzul de el, nu era un extremist, tatal lui moare tocmai cand a fost extradat).

Islamic Jihad, a small radical group with links to Iran and Syria, hascarried out dozens of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel. During his trial, jurors were shown evidence that he raised money for theorganization, along with footage of a 1991 speech in which he called Jews"the sons of monkeys and pigs."

Damra, whose wife and three daughters remain in the U.S., served as the imam, or religious leader, of the largest mosque in Ohio, the Islamic Center of Cleveland. He later apologized for making anti-Semitic statements.

Despite a campaign by his family and supporters to keep him in the U.S.,Damra was deported last week after spending a year in a Michigan jail. Damra's relatives in the U.S. said they hadn't been notified he had been deported,and found out only when his lawyer arrived at the jail and found him gone.

"Being Americans as we are, we expect a little fairness, to a degree, to the extent they would let him call his wife and children," said Haider Alawan, a friend of Damra and member of the Islamic Center of Cleveland's council of elders. Damra was flown to Jordan, and then taken overland to the Allenby Bridge, an Israeli-controlled crossing into the West Bank, which is apparently where he was taken into Israeli custody.

Jordanian officials said they knew nothing about Damra. Damra's brother, a UN worker in the West Bank, said the imam's work in theU.S. revolved around marrying and divorcing Muslims and lecturing toprisoners. "He always got along with all people. He is a moderate. If he upheldextremistviews, people wouldn't have loved him. He wouldn't be helping everyone," Damra said.