Islamic Cleric Leaves Country After Lockup

Immigration officials late Monday confirmed the departure to the Middle East of a prominent Islamic cleric whose fight to remain in the U.S. was championed by many Muslims in Southern California.

Details on the departure of Wagdy Mohamed Ghoneim, an imam at the Islamic Institute of Orange County, were kept secret by the Department of Homeland Security until he had left New York for Qatar.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that because Ghoneim was being removed “under safeguards,” federal policy prohibited her from confirming anything “out of safety for the alien and also any officers” accompanying him until he was out of U.S. custody. He left Los Angeles International Airport sometime Monday morning, then transferred to the international flight in New York.

Ghoneim had given up his two-month immigration fight, citing poor health, and chose to leave the country voluntarily to win release from detention. He was arrested Nov. 4 at his Anaheim home on suspicion of overstaying his visa.

His choice of a voluntary departure caused concern among Muslims about whether government efforts to fight terrorism would limit civil rights.

Government officials said Ghoneim, who came from Egypt in 2001, may have been giving speeches and helping raise funds for groups with terrorist connections. His attorney denied that, saying there was no evidence of it.

The secrecy about the imam’s departure prompted one Muslim from a prominent community group to say: “This is not the KGB but the DHS.”

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Anaheim-based Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added that the government was urged, through the office of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), to let Ghoneim’s two teenage daughters finish the school semester.

“But the Department of Homeland Security denied it,” Ayloush said. “I don’t think the words ‘compassion’ and ‘humanitarian’ are in the guide books for DHS.”

Valerie Curtis-Diop, Ghoneim’s attorney, said she had recommended that the rest of the family wrap up their affairs and leave as soon as possible.

“Many people are extremely sad and disappointed in the system,” she said. “They’re apprehensive because, if this can happen to a spiritual leader, they wonder who will be the next target.”