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Judge refuses to let accused ISIS supporter take wedding trip to West Bank amid concerns

Robert Snell, The Detroit News on

Published in News & Features

DETROIT — A federal judge Friday refused to let an accused Islamic State supporter convicted after an FBI counterterrorism investigation travel to the West Bank this weekend to attend a wedding while under court supervision and amid the Israel-Hamas war.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg concluded letting Ypsilanti resident Yousef Ramadan, 35, travel to the West Bank during an active war "would be unwise, risky, and fraught with potential danger" considering Ramadan's "demonstrated interest" in violent, extremist ideologies. He also noted Ramadan's failure to follow court orders and cited a review of his cell phone that "revealed searches for materials such as ISIS execution and propaganda videos, explosive manufacturing manuals, firearms, poison, and other disturbing items..."

Berg issued the order two days after Ramadan asked for permission to attend his brother's May 3 wedding in Bethlehem. Prosecutors opposed the request, citing the war and Ramadan's longstanding support of a foreign terrorist organization and asked the judge to reject Ramadan's last-minute request to fly from the U.S. to Amman, Jordan on Sunday and return May 24.

Ramadan is barred from unauthorized travel outside the eastern half of Michigan and is subject to three years of federal court oversight. That is because he was convicted of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possessing a stolen firearm and an unregistered silencer.

Ramadan's request Wednesday came amid the government's concern about Ramadan's behavior earlier this year and whether he was preparing for a terror attack three years after being released from federal prison. The government's concerns coincided with a nationwide warning about ongoing bomb threats targeting synagogues, Jewish community centers, schools, hospitals, airports, government buildings and other public institutions.

"Ramadan has established little (if any) trust between himself, his supervising officer, and the court that might support granting a special exception from the carefully-calibrated conditions of release that have been imposed," Berg wrote. "If anything, his conduct upon release has only undermined such trust."

 

The court will be unable to monitor him or force his return from Palestine, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S., prosecutors argued.

"First, Ramadan has shown himself to be entirely untrustworthy," Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Salzenstein wrote in the court filing. "With dual citizenship, no job, and his family already overseas, Ramadan will have every incentive to remain in Palestine if the court permits his travel."

Ramadan, a U.S. citizen who has lived and worked in the U.S. for more than 20 years, submitted detail plans for the trip. He submitted his flight number, taxi cab route from the airport and GPS coordinates of where he will be staying with his wife and children. He even gave the judge a copy of the wedding invitation.

"Mr. Ramadan hasn’t visited with his family in Palestine for nearly 10 years," his defense lawyer, Andrew Densemo, wrote in the request. "He isn’t facing any custodial sentences, nor are there other issues that would give him a reason not to return to the United States."

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