by Khalid Hasan
Daily Times (Pakistan)

WASHINGTON: Imam Muham­mad Masood, brother of Hafiz Muham­mad Saeed, founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, was ordered deported by a Boston, Mass­a­chu­setts court on Thurs­day on an immi­gra­tion vio­la­tion charge.

Under an agree­ment with fed­eral immi­gra­tion author­i­ties, the for­mer imam of the 1,500-member Islamic Cen­tre of New Eng­land agreed to vol­un­tar­ily leave the United States on Fri­day night and return to Pak­istan rather than be deported by the author­i­ties which would have taken months, a period he would have spent in jail. He was accused of hav­ing lied to immi­gra­tion author­i­ties from 2002 to 2006 in a bid to obtain a Green Card. He pleaded guilty in Feb­ru­ary to five fed­eral crimes stem­ming from his actions, which led to his depor­ta­tion order. He will leave behind his wife and eight children.

Imam Masood came to the US in 1987 under a spe­cial visa for exchange stu­dents. He enrolled at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­sity and trans­ferred to Boston Uni­ver­sity a year later to study eco­nom­ics. He became the imam of the Sharon mosque in 1998. In Decem­ber 2002, Masood admit­ted that he had falsely told author­i­ties in an appli­ca­tion for per­ma­nent legal res­i­dency that he returned to Pak­istan from 1991 to 1993 after com­plet­ing his stud­ies. Immi­grants with the kind of visa Masood had are required by law to return to their coun­try of ori­gin for two years before they can apply for a Green Card. Masood said he never left Boston. He also admit­ted falsely deny­ing to immi­gra­tion author­i­ties that he had been arrested for any crimes. He was arrested for alleged shoplift­ing in Nor­wood in 2000. The charge was dismissed.