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Fawaz Mohammed Damrah (, ''Fawwāz Damra'') was the imam of the Islamic Center of
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
, the largest mosque in the
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
area and taught at Cleveland State University and the local community college. Damra was born in the
West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
city of
Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
in 1961. He studied law in Jordan. He arrived in the United States in the mid-1980s and was an active religious figure in the Muslim American community. In January 2004 Damra was arrested by federal officials on an immigration violation and he was ultimately
denaturalized Denaturalization is the loss of citizenship against the will of the person concerned. Denaturalization is often applied to ethnic minorities and political dissidents. Denaturalization can be a penalty for actions considered criminal by the state ...
and deported back to the West Bank. He has three daughters who were all born in the United States.


Background

Before moving to Ohio, Damra had also served as an imam at the al-Farooq mosque in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
between 1986 and 1990. During the 1990s he was praised for outreach efforts in Jewish and Christian communities. He continued these interfaith efforts after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. In late September 2001, after the attacks, a Cleveland TV station showed a video of a speech Damra had made in 1991 where he recommended stabbing Jews in Israel. Before the video aired he was well-regarded as a moderate Muslim. Damra has said that at the time of the speech
Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...
was not a designated
Foreign Terrorist Organization Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) is a designation for non-United States-based organizations deemed by the United States secretary of state, in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), to be involved i ...
(FTO) and explained that his rhetoric was influenced by his experiences growing up in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has been under military occupation by Israel since 7 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured the territory, then ruled by Jordan, during the Six-Day War. The status of the West Bank as a militarily oc ...
. He apologized publicly for the remarks. He said that his outreach efforts with Jewish and Christian communities over the years had helped shape his views about peace and tolerance, saying "As all of us go through evolution in our life, intellectual and spiritual, so did I".


Denaturalization

He was indicted in 2004, and prosecutors argued that Damra had lied on his U.S. citizenship application. He was charged with fundraising to support international terrorism and affiliation with groups persecuting Jews. Damrah told PBS he "never raised money for any organization listed in the United States supporting terrorism". This was found patently false. Imam Damrah was convicted of concealing ties to three groups; Afghan Refugee Services (ARS); the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP); and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Consequently, his American citizenship was revoked by
United States District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
James S. Gwin James Steven Gwin (born August 10, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Education and career Born in Canton, Ohio in 1954, Gwin graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas ...
. A video made by
Steven Emerson Steven Emerson (born June 6, 1954) is an American investigative journalist, author, and pundit on national security, terrorism, and Islamic extremism. He is the founder and director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, and received a Ge ...
was aired on
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
. Due to statements made on the video, it became clear all groups the United States government classifies as jihadist terrorist organizations, were being funded and abetted by Fawaz Damrah's mid-west operations from his Cleveland mega-mosque, and through the North American upstreaming network of the Muslim Brotherhood, the 'Ummah', to HAMAS, Hezbollah and other jihadist terror entities in Palestine and the Mid-East. These activities demonstrated Fawaz Damrah was guilty of lying on his citizenship application, denying any connection to jihadi terror. His United States citizenship was revoked and he was deported to the Palestinian West Bank in January 2007.PBS coverage of Damrah case
/ref>


Deportation

The
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from transnational crime and ille ...
reported that Damrah was delivered to Israeli security agents at a West Bank crossing controlled by Israel. On January 26, 2007, ''
The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...
'' (
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
) reported that Damrah had been released from an Israeli prison after three weeks in custody and returned to the West Bank where he was staying with family.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damrah, Fawaz Living people Palestinian Sunni Muslims Cleveland State University faculty People deported from the United States Place of birth missing (living people) 1960s births Year of birth missing (living people)