Imam told Portland Seven that combat against U.S. was 'legitimate jihad,' court papers say

Article author: 
Bryan Denson
Article publisher: 
OregonLive.com
Article date: 
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Article category: 
Oregon Issues
Medium
Article Body: 

The imam of Portland's biggest mosque collected money from worshippers after 9/11, sending the Portland Seven to Afghanistan to fight against coalition forces, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges in its fight to deport the imam.

Arguments between lawyers for Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye and the Justice Department reveal new details of the government's legal maneuvers to strip the imam of his citizenship.

As religious leader of Masjed As-Saber, Kariye told several members of the plot that "Muslims should fight with fellow Muslim brothers of Afghanistan against Americans" and that this combat was a "righteous fight ... legitimate jihad," Justice Department lawyers wrote in an exhibit filed earlier this month in the immigration case...

The imam was never charged with any crime related to the Portland Seven. While people who prayed in his mosque were sentenced to prison ...

Kariye's lawyers, Nicole Nelson and Philip James Smith, have filed papers seeking to dismiss the government's lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds. ...

Government lawyers Benjamin G. Mizer, William C. Peachey and Christopher W. Dempsey argued in a response filed earlier this month that the law allows them to represent the U.S. in filing the complaint to strip Kariye of his naturalization.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown is expected to rule on the dueling motions, but it's unclear when.

Brown presides in another civil complaint involving Kariye: He is one of several plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses the FBI and its Terrorist Screening Center of violating the constitutional rights of those placed on the U.S. no-fly list, including him.

The exhibit that the government included in its response to the denaturalization lawsuit accuses Kariye of lacking the good moral character necessary to remain a U.S. citizen....