New Jersey

....Qatanani was born in the West Bank and said that he was detained by Israeli officials while visiting there in 1993. He came to the U.S. in 1996 from Jordan.


His brother-in-law was a senior Hamas military leader killed by Israelis, but Qatanani said in his 2008 trial that he did not participate with him in political activities.

Khalid Abu Goura, who served on the board of a mosque in Jordan when Qatanani was imam there, said that he never spoke about Hamas. ....“The Jordanian government is in control of all the mosques,” Goura said. “If any imam or preacher talks politics he will be banned from preaching, jailed or fined.”

An FBI agent testified previously that Qatanani admitted that he had been arrested and tried.

Qatanani came to the U.S. on a religious worker visa to lead the Paterson mosque and has been credited with working with leaders of different faiths and law enforcement. He has worked on the New Jersey attorney general’s office’s Muslim outreach task force.

While serving as the U.S. federal prosecutor in New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie called him a “man of great goodwill” and said that “he’s always had a very good relationship with us.”