Source: Yahoo! News
On March 17, 2005 Yahoo! News reported, "an appeals court upheld the conviction of the leader of Ohio's largest mosque, bringing federal prosecutors a step closer to beginning deportation proceedings. Imam Fawaz Damra, 43, of Strongsville in suburban Cleveland, was convicted in June of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. Damra's attorneys said their client did not belong to the Islamic Jihad and that the prosecutors' use of 'affiliation' was unclear. But a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled to deny Damra's appeal. In an opinion released Tuesday, the judges said it's clear that Damra engaged in fund-raising activity for a terrorist organization."