NEWARK (AP) -- When he faces an immigration judge in two weeks, a popular Muslim cleric fighting deportation may have to counter claims that he confessed to being a member of a terrorist group.
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According to Israeli military authorities, Imam Mohammad Qatanani admitted being a member of the militant Hamas organization during interrogation in 1993 in Israel.

"Imam Mohammed Katanani was convicted based on his own admission on charges of belonging to an unauthorized association and providing services to an unauthorized association, for being a member of Hamas and acting on its behalf," the Israeli army said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.

The U.S. State Department includes Hamas on its list of "designated foreign terrorist organizations." Anyone identified as a member or a supporter of an organization on the list can be refused entry to the U.S., according to Lucille Cirillo, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. According to the army statement, an Israeli military court sentenced Qatanani to three months in prison and a 12-month suspended sentence, and also fined him.

Qatanani, who heads the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, faces possible deportation for not disclosing the conviction when he applied for citizenship in 1999. He is scheduled to appear before immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl in Newark on May 8.

Qatanani has said he was not notified of the conviction until last year when he appealed a 2006 ruling denying his citizenship application. He also has denied being a member of Hamas.

Qatanani referred questions about the alleged confession to his attorney, Claudia Slovinsky, who said her client was the victim of physical abuse by Israeli authorities while in detention.

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