Ohio Muslim leader arrested

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A prominent Islamic clergyman was arrested Tuesday on charges he concealed his links to anti-Israeli terrorist groups when he applied for U.S. citizenship a decade ago, officials said.\nImam Fawaz Mohammed Damrah, who leads the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ohio's largest mosque, withheld information on his membership or affiliation with several groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, U.S. Attorney Gregory White said.\nWhite would not specify the nature of Damrah's involvement in the groups, but said such allegations often involve fund-raising. The indictment did not accuse Damrah, a Palestinian, of committing any terrorist acts.\n"We are strictly dealing with issues, activities and incidents prior to his becoming a naturalized citizen and what he was required to disclose to gain citizenship," White said. Damrah became a citizen in 1994.\nDamrah, 41, was charged with obtaining U.S. citizenship by providing false information. If convicted, he could lose his citizenship and face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.\nHe pleaded innocent and was released on $160,000 bail for a trial Feb. 23. Damrah's only comments in court were brief responses to routine questions.\nDamrah represented the Islamic community at interfaith gatherings in Cleveland after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\nAt the time, local TV stations broadcast a videotape from a Chicago gathering 10 years earlier showing him making anti-Jewish comments in a speech. He called for rifles to be directed at Jewish people, referring to them as "the sons of monkeys and pigs."\nHe apologized for the remarks, saying they were made before he had any interaction with Jews and Christians. But a local community college replaced him in 2001 as the teacher of a course on Islam.