BI deports Jordanian suspect

Immigration officials ordered yesterday the deportation of a Jordanian man questioned in connection with a terrorist bombing that killed an American soldier and three civilians earlier this month in Zamboanga City.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo said Mohammad Amin Al-Ghafari, 36, will be blacklisted and banned from entering the country again.

He was arrested for visa violations, for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino and engaging in acts of "malicious deception" by changing his name to enable him to freely enter and leave the country despite being blacklisted as early as 1995, a bureau statement said.

Al-Ghafari is a doctor of economics who has been living in the Philippines for 18 years. He has two Filipina wives and nine children.

Domingo said Al-Ghafari still needs to obtain clearances from law enforcement agencies and courts "to ensure that the interest of the State will not be prejudiced if he is allowed to leave the country."

She said her office had no recourse but to order his deportation after military and police officials failed to file charges against him in connection with alleged terrorist activities.

Domingo said teams of intelligence officers from the military and police tried to question Al-Ghafari, but the Jordanian refused to cooperate.

A bureau official in charge of anti-terrorist investigation told The Associated Press that military and police officials found difficulty "translating information against Al-Ghafari into evidence that can stand up in court."

"Our problem is we have no law against terrorism," added the official, who refused to be identified.

But he said once blacklisted by the Philippines, Al-Ghafari will also have difficulty entering other countries who have intelligence-sharing arrangements with Manila. – Rey Arquiza