“Peaceloving” Iman on Trial in New Jersey
The 14 charter buses started arriving at the Federal Building at 4:30 and continued throughout Thursday morning. They were filled with men and women who had taken the day off from work. Teenagers in brightly colored headscarves marched off the buses chanting “Allahu akbar” — God is great — and linked hands in a human chain that lined the block.
Three Orthodox rabbis had driven from Rockland County in New York, and all day long, men in dashikis strolled over from local mosques. All had come to show their support for Mohammad Qatanani, 44, the popular spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson.
Imam Qatanani is on trial and facing deportation because of his detention in Israel in 1993, and questions about whether he lied about it on his application for permanent residency in 1999.
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The rabbis said they had come to support Imam Qatanani because at one time he had arranged for them to use a halal slaughterhouse in Paterson.