Seminole Man to Await Bail Ruling

Seminole Man to Await Bail Ruling

by Doris Bloodsworth
The Orlando Sentinel
January 11, 2003
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/orl-locwalid11011103jan11,0,1326877.story?coll=orl%2Dnews%2Dheadlines%2Dseminole

BRADENTON -- A Central Florida man who tried to warn the FBI during the summer of 2001 about upcoming terrorist attacks on New York City will have to wait a little longer to see if he is granted freedom or deported.

In a hearing Friday morning, Immigration Judge H.D. McHugh gave the attorney for Walid Arkeh until Jan. 28 to file a request asking for political asylum for his client.

Orlando attorney Barry Brumer, who requested the hearing to seek bail for Arkeh, learned that McHugh can't grant bail in the case. The judge said Brumer must apply for bail from Immigration and Naturalization Service's Bradenton chief David Wing.

McHugh said he could not grant bail because the Immigration and Naturalization Service has placed Arkeh, 36, in the same category as someone who just arrived at the border, instead of treating him as someone who has lived in the United States since 1987.

The law, which was passed in 1998, was intended for someone who might have arrived by plane and would be held upon entry, said Brumer.

INS officials are in the process of trying to deport Arkeh to Jordan. Although Arkeh was born there, he has not lived there since he was a young child and has no relatives there.

Brumer said he was unaware the judge did not have jurisdiction over the bail because the judge did not receive Arkeh's records until late Thursday. He said he will apply for bail as soon as he can.

During the brief hearing, the judge asked Arkeh how long he had lived in the United States, if he was married and had a child and other questions about his ties to Central Florida. Arkeh answered that his wife and child were American and that his father was an American citizen as well.

Arkeh's father, Abdul Arkeh, divides his time between Florida and the United Arab Emirates, where he is a banker. Abdul Arkeh was expected to arrive in Orlando on Friday. Arkeh's family in Orlando said Thursday that Abdul Arkeh had been trying to get to Florida for several weeks but had trouble getting an earlier flight.

Brumer told the judge he plans to seek political asylum for Arkeh. Brumer said that because Arkeh had tried to warn Orlando FBI agents about the attacks of Sept. 11 and because he has since cooperated as a material witness in that and other terrorist investigations being conducted in New York, Arkeh's life would be in jeopardy if he were deported.

"Your honor, Mr. Arkeh told federal authorities about things that shocked him that were going to happen in New York City," Brumer said, recalling Arkeh's attempts to tell FBI agents what he had learned while incarcerated with indicted co-conspirators of Osama bin Laden's, whom he met while in a London prison. "He would be in great danger if returned to Jordan," Brumer said.

While living in Seminole County, Arkeh was convicted of slapping his daughter, then 8 years old, and for trying to pawn a ring he says he didn't realize was stolen. Fearing extradition, he fled to England, which is where he was held with three men indicted as co-conspirators in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.

After the hearing, Arkeh was returned to the Manatee County Jail in Bradenton, where he will await the outcome of his request for bail.

Doris Bloodsworth can be reached at dbloodsworth@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5446.

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