Mosque Leader Gets 6 Months in Terror Case

The leader of the state’s largest mosque was sentenced in Akron to two months in federal prison and four months of house arrest for lying about his connections to terrorist groups when he applied for U.S. citizenship.

Palestinian-born Fawaz Damra, imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, could have received up to five years in prison on the charge of obtaining U.S. citizenship in 1994 by providing false information.

U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin said he did not view the citizenship application offense as a terrorism issue the way prosecutors had tried to suggest.