Opinion ID: 75479
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: IJ Proceedings

Text: On February 8, 1996, Mazen's recalendared deportation hearing was held. The Service issued a Form I-261 to supplement the factual allegations contained in the April 1985 OSC. Over the objection of the INS, the IJ granted the Al Najjars' motions to consolidate their deportation proceedings. Mazen and Fedaa both conceded deportability under the INA but requested relief from deportation in the form of asylum, withholding of removal, and suspension of deportation. In July and October of 1996, consolidated hearings before an IJ in Orlando, Florida took place. At these hearings, Mazen and Fedaa argued that they were stateless Palestinians and declined to designate a country of deportation. Instead, the Al Najjars argued that no Middle Eastern country would accept them as permanent residents due to their lack of citizenship anywhere in the world. In the course of the proceedings before the IJ, testimony from witnesses was heard, and a voluminous amount of documentary evidence was adduced. While much of this evidence was relevant to proving the elements of the Al Najjars' petitions for relief, a substantial amount of evidence pertained to Mazen's professional associations while living in Tampa, Florida. With respect to this latter type of evidence, the INS produced various media accounts, documents seized from WISE's offices, and testimony of special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the INS. This evidence, primarily offered by the Service, purported to show an association between Mazen and individuals supporting terrorism in the Middle East. The INS argued that this terrorist evidence was offered to demonstrate that the Al Najjars were not worthy of any discretionary relief. Much of the terrorist evidence offered to the IJ pertained to Mazen's and WISE's involvement with Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, a former adjunct professor at USF and an official of WISE, who left the United States in June of 1995. On October 31, 1995, at the funeral of assassinated Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) founder and leader Fathi Shikaki, Shallah was allegedly proclaiming himself as the new leader of the PIJ. During this speech, Shallah allegedly threatened to eradicate Israel, vowed to avenge Shikaki's assassination at the hands of Israeli operatives, and applauded the assassination ... of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. Before the IJ, Mazen's attorney stipulated that Shallah had been reported to be the new leader of the PIJ. The PIJ is on the Secretary of State's list of terrorist organizations. The group is committed to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and to undermining any attempt at a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. The PIJ has taken responsibility for suicide bombings in the West Bank, Israel, and other parts of the Middle East that have killed Israeli soldiers, civilians, and an American student. In addition to the alleged association between WISE, the PIJ, and Shallah, many record documents purported to show a relationship between other militant organizations and WISE, as well as a Tampa-based charitable organization, the Islamic Concern Project (ICP), which was founded by Mazen's brother-in-law Sami Al Arian. To this end, FBI and INS agents testified before the IJ that WISE and ICP were used as fronts to raise money for the PIJ and other militant Islamic-Palestinian groups such as the Hamas and the Intifada. On May 13, 1997, the IJ issued separate decisions in Fedaa's and Mazen's cases, denying all forms of relief, including asylum, suspension of deportation, and withholding of removal. The IJ designated the UAE as the appropriate country of deportation for Mazen, and Saudi Arabia as the appropriate country of deportation for Fedaa. The Al Najjars immediately appealed both decisions to the BIA.