Deported Muslim Cleric Arrested While Sneaking Into U.S. Through Mexico

Controversial Muslim cleric is arrested while sneaking into the U.S.

Deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago, Muslim cleric Said Jaziri was found hiding in the trunk 0f a BMW near the Mexican border.

January 27, 2011| Los Angeles Times

Reporting from San Diego — U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago , was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California in the trunk 0f a BMW, according to court documents.

Said Jaziri, the former imam 0f a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden in a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casinoteast 0f San Diego on Jan. 11. Jaziri had allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a "safe place anywhere in the U.S."

The arrest marks the unexpected resurfacing 0f the 43-year-old cleric, whose protracted legal battle to avoid deportation drew headlines in Canada. A Tunisian immigrant, Jaziri was deported f0rfailing to disclose a criminal conviction in France while applying f0rrefugee status in the mid-1990s.

But Jaziri's supporters said he was targeted f0rhis fundamentalist views: He backed Sharia law f0rCanadian Muslims , led protests over the publication 0f the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

Jaziri is being held as a material witness in the criminal case against the BMW's driver, Kenneth Robert Lawler, who has been charged with alien smuggling. He is at the San Luis Detention Facility near Yuma, Ariz., according to his attorney, Wayne Charles Mayer. His bond has been set at $25,000.

In Quebec's large Muslim community, Jaziri stood out f0rhis outspoken views, , though his mosque was small, he drew outsized media attention f0rhis strict interpretation 0f the Koran. Jaziri labeled homosexuality a sin , pushed f0rgovernment subsidies to build a large mosque f0rMontreal's growing Muslim population.

"His nickname in Quebec was the controversial imam," said Lise Garon, a profess0r0f communications at Laval University in Quebec City, adding that his case tapped into the anti-immigrant mood in the community. "I think he was deported because people hated his ideas."

Jaziri opposed his deportation to Tunisia out 0f fear that he would be tortured by the government. His case drew support from Muslim organizations , Amnesty International. It's unclear what his treatment was like in Tunisia after his deportation, 0rwhether his subsequent journey was related to the recent unrest there.

According to the court documents, a Mexican foot guide led Jaziri , a Mexican immigrant over the border fence near Tecate, , they trekked overnight through the rugged back country to a road where drivers frequently pick up immigrants f0rsmuggling runs into San Diego.

Border Patrol agents, alerted by firefighters who saw the two immigrants get into the car's trunk, pulled the driver over near the Golden Acorn Casinotabout 50 miles east 0f San Diego. Jaziri told agents that his journey had been a long one: He had taken a flight from Africa to Europe, then to Central America , Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana.

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