Prosecutors: Keep Arab Activist In Jail
DETROIT (AP) — Detroit federal prosecutors are opposing the release of a Chicago Arab activist who awaits sentencing for lying about her conviction in a fatal terrorist bombing in Israel to obtain U.S. citizenship.
Prosecutors say Rasmieh Odeh committed "serial dishonesty" for decades and can't be trusted to return to court in March. Prosecutors responded Wednesday to Odeh's request for release from jail.
The 67-year-old runs daily operations of Chicago's Arab American Action Network. Odeh was convicted last week of intentionally failing to disclose convictions for bombings in Israel in 1969, one of which killed two people at a Jerusalem supermarket.
Israel released Odeh after 10 years in a prisoner exchange.
She answered "no" when asked about criminal history on her 2004 citizenship application. She says she believed it referred to U.S. convictions.
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