Judge gets cleric's case back

TRENTON - The lengthy deportation case of an influential New Jersey Muslim leader has been sent back to an immigration judge for a rehearing.

In a 12-page ruling made public this week, the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected some arguments that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made in the case against Imam Mohammad Qatanani, the 45-year-old spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

The panel, however, also challenged some of the reasoning that led to Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl's ruling in September 2008 granting permanent resident status to Qatanani. A Palestinian, Qatanani lives in Paterson with his wife and three of their U.S.-born children.

The panel recommended the judge further evaluate evidence - which he considered questionable and accorded "very low evidentiary weight" - that DHS obtained from Israeli officials that the agency claimed proved Qatanani had been convicted of charges linking him to Hamas, classified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. It also said Qatanani needed to prove he does not have links to the organization.

"It's important to note that they did not reverse the judge's decision, they just remanded part of the ruling," Claudia Slovinsky, Qatanani's lawyer, said yesterday.

Harold Ort, a spokesman for the New Jersey office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to comment.

Qatanani came to New Jersey on a religious visa in 1996. But his 1999 bid for U.S. residency was rejected because immigration authorities say he failed to disclose on his green card application a 1993 arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of Hamas. Qatanani has denied being a Hamas member.