Judge Grants Asylum to French Citizen

A French citizen who fought to expose an alleged pedophile ring that he said ensnared his daughter in France won political asylum Friday in U.S. Immigration Court in Los Angeles.

The court formalized an earlier ruling that granted protected status to Karim Christian Kamal, 39, of Santa Monica. Western Europeans rarely win political asylum, which allows for permanent residence in the United States and can lead to citizenship.

The INS argued that Kamal should be returned to France, where he faces a prison term for child abduction and other crimes.

Kamal charged that French officials have covered up a child-sex gang whose clients included judges and law enforcement authorities in the French Riviera city of Nice.

In December, immigration Judge Ronald N. Ohata issued the initial ruling granting asylum to Kamal. He called Kamal a whistle-blower victimized by “malicious prosecution.” Ohata has since left the bench and the case was left to another judge for Friday’s final disposition.

French authorities and the family of Kamal’s ex-wife call Kamal a liar and a kidnapper. He faces prison in France on convictions of maligning the judiciary and abducting his daughter, now 12, who lives with her mother in France. The family says the girl is well and denies that her mother mistreated her.