''Sunrise man who befriended 'dirty bomber' is denied bail''

By Jeff Shields and Tanya Weinberg
 

(YellowTimes.org) – Supporters of Adham Hassoun, a computer programmer from Sunrise who befriended alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla in the 1990s, blasted the justice system Thursday after an immigration judge refused to release Hassoun on bail.

After two days of testimony and evidence, Immigration Judge Neale Foster declared Hassoun, 40, a Palestinian from Lebanon, a potential danger to the community based on evidence presented in a sealed courtroom.

Agents from the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Hassoun on June 12 because of his connection to Padilla, who converted to Islam in South Florida and was a friend of Hassoun's. Padilla is being held in South Carolina as an "enemy combatant," accused of plotting to detonate a bomb on U.S. soil that would spread radioactive material around its target area.

Federal investigators say that they want to know more about the relationship between Hassoun and Padilla. The Immigration and Naturalization Service will not comment on the case.

Hassoun has contributed to several Islamic charities that the government now accuses of supporting terrorism, and he worked briefly for one in 1993. He was a circulation contact in the United States for an Australian-based militant Islamic magazine, The Call of Islam.

Hassoun has denied that he supports terrorism and dismissed media accounts that he had recent contact with Padilla.

His attorney, Akhtar Hussain, said he was shocked at the nature of the proceedings in Immigration Court at Krome detention center, which he said were closed to the public over his objection.

Hussain is barred from discussing the details of the hearing by court order, but he said Padilla was never mentioned and that the best evidence the government presented involved "somebody overhearing something in 1997."

"I have never seen anything like this in my 22 years in practice - there is no evidence, no witnesses, nothing," said Hussain, who said he was prevented from subpoenaing witnesses to rebut government evidence.

"They did not rebut my client's denials. They have no one there to back up what they're saying," Hussain said. "I would be satisfied if they brought something; then I could counter that. How can I counter a ghost?"

Friends of Hassoun, who has three small children, were crestfallen.

"We were so optimistic today, and we feel the system betrayed us," said Sofian Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North America.

He was one of about 15 Muslim community leaders, friends and colleagues at Krome for the hearing.

"They don't have anything against him. It's just because he is Muslim. This is how we feel," Abdelaziz said. "The guy is clean. If there's anything wrong, we would have known, and we wouldn't go there for him. But they have no respect for him, no respect for his religion, no respect for us - as if we don't exist at all. This is not good."

Seeing two of Hassoun's young sons sitting outside the courtroom with sad faces and unable to speak, Ibrahim Dremali said they looked like orphans.

"That broke my heart, believe me," said Dremali, the religious leader of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton.

During more than an hour of questioning, Dremali - one of four witnesses called in Hassoun's defense - said he never had the sense the government had anything solid against Hassoun.

"I feel they want to show the American people they are doing something," he said.

Dremali said that prosecutors didn't appear to have a good understanding of Islam, and that he felt their questions became accusatory.

"Am I a witness here, or am I on trial?" he asked. "Is Islam on trial?"