2 Lodi Men to Be Deported; U.S. Will Drop Charges

Imam Mohammad Adil Khan, 47, and his son Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19, conceded in federal Immigration Court that they overstayed their religious worker visas. They will probably be sent back to Pakistan within two weeks, said their attorney, Saad Ahmad, after the brief afternoon proceeding.

Ahmad vehemently denied that his clients had anything to do with terrorism. The attorney said the imam wanted to convey his condolences to the families of those killed in the recent London terrorist bombings but did not have an opportunity to make a statement in court.

"If my clients were dangerous, why would they be allowed to leave voluntarily?" he asked, adding that he did not expect the government to press criminal charges against the two men, who will remain in custody until they return to Pakistan. "If [authorities] had evidence, they'd already be charged."

However, U.S. immigration authorities said the deportation agreement was part of an ongoing government strategy of using civil and administrative proceedings to remove targeted individuals perceived to be a threat to the country.

A similar agreement was used by the government in January to deport Anaheim Muslim religious leader Wagdy Mohammed Ghoneim, 53, an Egyptian cleric suspected by the government of illegal fundraising activities.

In a statement issued after the Friday hearing, San Francisco Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief Ronald E. Le Fevre said his agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, "will not allow foreign nationals to use the United States as a haven for activities that potentially put our nation or other nations at risk."

Another Lodi Muslim cleric, Shabbir Ahmed, 38, who also was arrested in the June roundup of Lodi residents, is scheduled for a deportation hearing next month. In a court hearing last month, he admitted that after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he gave several speeches in his native Pakistan urging crowds to battle U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Two other men, father and son Umer Hayat, 47, and Hamid Hayat, 22, are charged with lying to federal agents about Hamid's alleged 2003-04 attendance at a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.