Ohio: Judge won't overturn imam's conviction

As jihadists dominate the news from Russia, Iraq, and Israel, here in the United States one of their key allies, and a former prominent "moderate Muslim," has suffered a setback. From AP:

CLEVELAND - A federal judge has rejected a defense request to overturn the conviction of an Islamic cleric on charges of concealing ties to alleged terrorist groups on his U.S. citizenship application in 1994.

U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin, who presided at the trial of Imam Fawaz Damra, said Monday in a 31-page ruling that a jury could reasonably conclude from the evidence that Damra had misrepresented his past on his application.

The judge also rejected a defense request for a new trial.

Damra, the Palestinian-born leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ohio's largest mosque, faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing Sept. 20. He also could face deportation.

The government said that when Damra applied for citizenship, he concealed ties to Afghan Refugee Services, the Islamic Committee for Palestine and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, groups the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations.

Prosecutors showed video footage of Damra and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989.

The defense said Damra may have supported certain groups, but he did not consider himself a member or affiliate of them.

Oh. I see. He raised money for them, but he detested them. You know, sometimes the dhimmi line gets so complicated, I wish they would issue a script or something.