Bail Denied for 7 Held by INS as Part of PLO

Seven alleged members of a radical Palestinian group must stay in jail because charges “may involve national security endangerment,” a judge said Wednesday before postponement of deportation hearings.

While Arab-American groups on both coasts protested Monday’s arrests, calling the prisoners hostages, the seven defendants appeared before two Los Angeles immigration judges to discuss bail and deportation proceedings.

All seven defendants, unshackled and wearing street clothes during the two hours of legal proceedings, agreed to postponement of the bail hearing until next Tuesday, and all but one will begin a deportation hearing Feb. 17.

Four defense attorneys led by lawyer Gary Silbiger said they were not prepared to argue the merits of bail and said they had not had enough time to discuss the charges with their clients. Immigration and Naturalization Service attorneys Melanie Fitzsimmons and Elizabeth Hacker agreed to the postponements.

“The deportation charge relates to individuals that are involved in communist-oriented organizations,” Tom Gaines, acting deputy district director of the INS, said after the back-to-back hearings. “It is our belief that for aspects of national security they should remain in custody until an appropriate decision can be made as to their bond.”

The INS took the six Jordanians and a Kenyan into custody following an FBI investigation. The FBI linked the seven to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, reportedly a Marxist splinter group of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The seven, including several college students and the alleged Southern California leader of the group, Khader Musa Hamide, 32, of Glendale, were booked for investigation of immigration law violations.

During the bail hearing before U.S. Immigration Judge Thomas Y. K. Fong, no specific information about the charges was offered by Fitzsimmons or Hacker.

When defense attorney Anthony Hall objected to jail conditions allegedly involving solitary confinement, Fong said: “The charges are rather serious ones which may involve national security endangerment.”

Deportation hearings will be held Feb. 17 for Hamide; Amjad Mustafa Obeid, 23, of Long Beach; his brother Ayman, 22, of Long Beach; Aiad Khaled Barakat, 26, of Glendale; Michel Ibrahim Nasif Shehadeh, 30, of Long Beach, and Naim Nadim Sharif, 26, of Northridge.

Hamide’s wife, Julie Nuangugi Mungabh, 28, of Kenya, was ordered to appear for a deportation hearing on Feb. 10. U.S. Immigration Judge Ingrid Hrycenko said the charge against her involved a “simple overstay” of her visa.

On the steps of the downtown federal building before the hearings, pro-Arab groups led by radio-television personality Casey Kasem, complained that the seven defendants were being held hostage by the United States.

“All seven are absolutely opposed to terrorism,” attorney Silbiger said. “We feel the charges are fraudulent. This is a framed-up situation.”

Silbiger said the federal show-cause orders for the seven were issued in mid-December. “If these people are so dangerous, why were they allowed on the streets for another five or six weeks?” he asked.

Blames ‘Hysteria’

Defense attorney Brian Barnes blamed the arrests on “anti-Arab racism and anti-communist hysteria. Because of the Irangate fiasco, the Reagan Administration is searching for a way to save face,” Barnes said.

The federal orders said that each of the seven has “been a member of or affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an organization that advocated the economic, international and governmental doctrines of . . . world communism through written or printed publications.”

Led by Syria-based George Habash, the group gained notoriety in the 1970s through a series of hijackings, including the June 27, 1976, seizure of an Air France airliner that was flown to Uganda’s Entebbe airport. Israeli commandos later stormed the airport waiting room, killing all seven hijackers and rescuing 103 passengers and crew members.

In Washington, the head of an organization of Arab-Americans called for a congressional investigation of the FBI and its role in the arrests of the Jordanians and the Kenyan.

‘Agent of Harassment’

“Rather than protecting the civil and political liberties of Americans, the FBI seems to be functioning as an agent of harassment and intimidation,” James Zogby, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said at a news conference.

In a letter, he asked Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House criminal justice subcommittee, to launch a probe of the FBI. Ronald A. Stroman, a staff aide to Conyers’ subcommittee, said no decision has been made on whether to begin an investigation.

“Mr. Conyers is attempting to meet with the FBI about the matter very quietly to get the facts. . . . Obviously it raises some interesting and possibly disturbing questions about whether this was a legitimate move or some kind of political harassment,” Stroman said.