A convicted Palestinian terrorist who entered Canada under false pretenses a year ago won a four-week postponement of deportation proceedings Monday.
The delay was granted Mahmoud Muhammad Issa Muhammad, who appeared before an immigration review board on Hamilton, Ontario. His attorney, Marylis Edwardh, requested four weeks to studay the case.
Issa Muhammad obtained an immigrant visa from the Canadian Consulate in Madrid in January 1987, before the Canadian authorities could identify him as a member of a Palestinian terrorist group. He had been convicted in Greece in 1970 for bombing an Israeli airliner at Athens airport, in which one man was killed. He served one year of a 17-year prison sentence before he was freed in a hostage exchange.
Canadian officials, embarrassed by the ease with which Issa Muhammad managed to elude detection, initiated deportation proceedings against him last October. Deputy Immigration Minister Jerry Weiner told the House of Commons last week that he “may either leave voluntarily or as a result of a deportation order. Our objective is to get this man out of the country.”
Issa Muhammad apparently has decided to use all legal avenues to fight deportation. He is not in custody, but his passport has been confiscated by the authorities and he must report daily to immigration officials.
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