http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-palestinian1nov01,1,5804187.story
>From the Los Angeles Times Final two L.A. 8 defendants cleared After 20 years, U.S. drops efforts to deport men accused of ties to Palestinian terrorists. By Henry Weinstein Los Angeles Times Staff Writer November 1, 2007 Ending a controversial 20-year campaign to expel immigrants because of their ties to alleged Palestinian terrorists, the federal government has agreed to drop attempts to deport the final two defendants in the L.A. 8 case. The Board of Immigration Appeals on Tuesday dismissed all charges against Khader M. Hamide and Michel I. Shehadeh, who had faced deportation proceedings since 1987, and approved a settlement submitted by the men's lawyers and the Department of Homeland Security, according to documents made public Wednesday. The case, which placed seven Palestinian men and a Kenyan woman in legal and personal limbo for more than two decades, foreshadowed government efforts after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to ferret out potentially dangerous Muslim militants in the U.S. But Hamide, Shehadeh and the other defendants were never charged with an act of terrorism or with any other crime. Rather, they were accused of supporting the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which has taken credit for car bombings and airline hijackings in the Middle East. Specifically, the government targeted the eight immigrants' efforts to distribute Al Hadaf, the Popular Front's magazine, a publication available in public libraries, on college campuses and even at the U.S. Library of Congress. The immigrants asserted that they were being persecuted for lawful political activities: assisting Palestinians with human rights and medical needs; raising money for hospitals, youth clubs and day-care centers; and participating in demonstrations. The L.A. 8, as the defendants were dubbed, became a symbol for critics, who considered the case emblematic of misguided and overly zealous attempts by the government to deport pro-Palestinian activists. "After thorough analysis and investigation, the United States government has no information indicating that Khader Musa Hamide and Michel Ibrahim Shehadeh currently pose a threat to national security," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. "The government reasonably believed at the time these men were charged they were a threat because of their membership in a terrorist organization," California spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Hamide and Shehadeh said they were relieved that the government's long pursuit of them was over. "My family and I feel a tremendous amount of relief," said Hamide, 52, after learning of the appeal board's decision. "After 20 years, the nightmare is finally over. I feel vindicated at long last," said the Chino Hills resident, who is in the coffee distribution business. "This is a victory not only for the L.A. 8 but for the 1st Amendment of the Constitution and for the rights of all immigrants." Shehadeh, who is 50 and now lives in Oregon, said that although he was "extremely happy" to put the battle behind him, he had mixed emotions. "The government robbed us, and our families, of the best and most productive years of our lives. But we will continue . . . acting on our beliefs, loving our country and defending the Constitution," he said. The government's decision to drop charges against Hamide and Shehadeh was "a victory for the 1st Amendment rights of all immigrants and a vindication of their clients' actions," the attorneys for the L.A. 8 said in a formal statement. ... The government's decision to throw in the towel came nine months after Bruce J. Einhorn, a federal immigration judge in Los Angeles, lambasted federal officials for violating the men's rights. He accused the government of a "gross failure" to comply with instructions to turn over to the men "potentially exculpatory and other relevant information." In a blistering opinion, Einhorn said the government's conduct in the case was "an embarrassment to the rule of law" that left "a festering wound on" Hamide and Shehadeh, who have been in legal and personal limbo for more than two decades. Initially, the government appealed Einhorn's ruling. But negotiations soon started, leading to the settlement. Legal action began Jan. 26, 1987, when agents of the FBI and the immigration service took into custody the seven men and one woman, all Southern California residents, charging them with affiliation with a group that advocates "the doctrines of world communism," [!!!] which was then a deportable offense under the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952. The other members of the group were Julie Mungai, the Kenyan wife of Khader Hamide; Bashar Amer; Aiad Barakat; Amjad Obeid; Ayman Obeid; and Naim Sharif. Early on, the government focused its efforts on Hamide and Shehadeh, the only members of the group with permanent resident status. Beginning with government concern about possible terrorism at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, agents surveilled the eight immigrants over a three-year period, including at a 1986 festival at Glendale Civic Auditorium -- a night of ethnic food, folk dances and political speeches delivered in Arabic -- attended by an estimated 1,200 men, women and children, to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Years later, both sides entered into a court stipulation that the Popular Front had "engaged in terrorist activities," but it also acknowledged that the organization provided day-care, healthcare and other social services to Palestinian refugees from the Mideast turmoil. Three weeks after their arrest, on Feb. 17, 1987, all eight were released after an immigration judge refused to consider secret evidence that the government offered in support of its request to hold them without bail. Two months later, then-FBI Director William Webster testified at a congressional hearing that the agency had investigated the eight because they were suspected of ties to the Popular Front. He acknowledged that the agency had found no evidence of criminal or terrorist activity and said that "if these individuals had been United States citizens, there would not have been a basis for their arrest." Congress repealed the McCarran-Walter Act in 1990, replacing it with a new statute making it a deportable offense to "engage in terrorist activity." ... more at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-palestinian1nov01,1,5804187.story -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
