Rasmea Odeh Will Be Deported To Jordan Next Week
By Ari Feldman September 19, 2017
Palestinian women’s activist Rasmea Odeh will be deported to Jordan from Chicago Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reported. Hatem Abudayyeh, coordinator of her defense committee, said that her supporters and some activists will hold a gathering at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport before her flight.
Odeh pleaded guilty in April to concealing prior convictions in her application for U.S. citizenship. Odeh was convicted to life in prison for a bombing in Jerusalem in 1969 that killed two people. She was released in a prisoner swap in 1980.
Odeh insists that she was tortured into confessing by Israeli law enforcement.
Odeh did not her disclose her past criminal record twice: in 1994, when she applied for a U.S. visa, and in 2004 when she applied for citizenship.
Odeh is listed as the associate director of the Arab American Action Network, a not-for-profit that provides social services to Arab Americans in the Chicago area.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.
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