Rasmea Odeh

Rasmea Yousef Odeh in Arabic رسمية يوسف عودة (born 1947/1948; also known as Rasmea Yousef , Rasmieh Steve , and Rasmieh Joseph Steve ) is a Palestinian Jordanian and former American citizen who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine convicted by Israeli military courts for her role in the murder of two students, Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe in the 1969 Jerusalem Supermarket bombing . After her release in a prisoner exchange, she immigrated to the United States , became a U.S. citizen, and she served as associate director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, Illinois . Odeh was convicted in 1970 of involvement in two terrorist bombings in Jerusalem in 1969, one of which killed two people, and in 2014 by a US federal jury of immigration fraud . She was sentenced to life in prison in Israel and involvement in an illegal organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She spent 10 years in prison before she was released in a prisoner exchange with the PFLP in 1980. In a 1980 interview she confessed to participating in two bombings with PFLP, though says the intent was not to hurt anyone. Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud on November 10, 2014, by a jury in federal court in Detroit , Michigan , for concealing her arrest, conviction, and imprisonment for the 1969 bombings. On December 11, 2014, she was released on bond pending sentencing. Odeh's counsel maintains she did not receive a "full and fair trial" because the judge ruled as irrelevant her testimony that her confession to the crimes had been extracted by torture while she was in the custody of Israeli Police in 1969. After investigating Odeh's claims of torture, federal prosecutors concluded that such claims were "certainly false" and that Odeh had been "serially untruthful for decades." On February 13, 2015, federal Judge Gershwin A. Drain denied Odeh's request that he either overturn the federal jury’s conviction of her or grant her a new trial. He ruled that her argument lacked legal merit, as evidence showed that Odeh illegally obtained U.S. citizenship, the jurors "clearly did not believe [her] explanation", and that "the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury’s verdict." Odeh was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on March 12, 2015, stripped of her US citizenship, and set for deportation to Jordan after serving her time. She was free on bail while she appealed. Her conviction was vacated by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and sent back to the District Court in February 2016. In April 2017 she pleaded guilty to failing to disclose her previous conviction on her citizenship application. As part of the plea agreement she was deported without serving jail time. The Times of Israel . Journal of Palestine Studies . "Rasmea Odeh, convicted of lying on immigration forms about terrorist past, to be released on bond" . Published in The Sunday Times (London) on 19 June 1977 (Annex to Letter dated 30 June 1977 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General). Items 30 and 57 of the preliminary list.

Palestinian-American activist and criminal Rasmea Yousef Odeh in Arabic رسمية يوسف عودة (born 1947/1948; also known as Rasmea Yousef , Rasmieh Steve , and Rasmieh Joseph Steve ) is a Palestinian Jordanian and former American citizen who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine convicted by Israeli military courts for involvement in the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing . Odeh claimed that the confessions she claimed were obtained under torture, and that the charges were political. She was sentenced to life in prison in Israel and spent 10 years in prison before she was released in a prisoner exchange with the PFLP in 1980. After her release in a prisoner exchange, she immigrated to the United States , became a U.S. citizen, and served as associate director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, Illinois . On November 10, 2014, Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud by a jury in federal court in Detroit , Michigan , for concealing her arrest and conviction by military court in Israel. On December 11, 2014, she was released on bond pending sentencing. Odeh's counsel maintains she did not receive a "full and fair trial" because the judge ruled as irrelevant her testimony that her confession to the crimes had been extracted by torture while she was in the custody of Israeli Police in 1969. On February 13, 2015, federal Judge Gershwin A. Drain denied Odeh's request that he either overturn the federal jury’s conviction of her or grant her a new trial. He ruled that her argument lacked legal merit, as evidence showed that Odeh illegally obtained U.S. citizenship, the jurors "clearly did not believe [her] explanation", and that "the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury’s verdict." Odeh was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on March 12, 2015, stripped of her US citizenship, and set for deportation to Jordan after serving her time. She was free on bail while she appealed. Her conviction was vacated by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and sent back to the District Court in February 2016. In April 2017 she pleaded guilty to failing to disclose her previous conviction on her citizenship application. As part of the plea agreement she was deported without serving jail time. The Times of Israel . "Rasmea Odeh, convicted of lying on immigration forms about terrorist past, to be released on bond" . Published in The Sunday Times (London) on 19 June 1977 (Annex to Letter dated 30 June 1977 from the Permanent Representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General). Items 30 and 57 of the preliminary list.

Palestinian-American activist Rasmea Yousef Odeh (in Arabic رسمية يوسف عودة; born 1948), also known as Rasmea Yousef , Rasmieh Steve , and Rasmieh Joseph Steve , is a Palestinian Jordanian and former American citizen who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) convicted by Israeli military courts for involvement in a 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing which killed two young civilians. She was sentenced to life in prison and spent 10 years there before being released in a 1980 prisoner exchange with the PFLP. After her release to Jordan, she immigrated in 1990 to the United States , became a U.S. citizen, and served as associate director at the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, Illinois . In 2014, Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud by a jury in federal court in Detroit for concealing her Israeli arrest and conviction. Odeh's counsel maintained she did not receive a "full and fair trial" because the judge ruled as irrelevant her testimony that her 1969 confession in Israel had been extracted by torture . In 2015, a federal judge denied Odeh's request to either overturn the conviction or grant a new trial, ruling that her argument lacked legal merit, based on evidence of her fraudulent citizenship application and the fact that the jurors "clearly did not believe [her] explanation", while "the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury's verdict." Odeh was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in March 2015, stripped of her US citizenship, and set for deportation to Jordan after serving her time. Her conviction was vacated by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and sent back to the District Court in February 2016. In April 2017 she pleaded guilty to failing to disclose her previous conviction on her citizenship application. As part of the plea agreement she was deported without serving jail time. The Times of Israel . Published in The Sunday Times (London) on 19 June 1977 (Annex to Letter dated 30 June 1977 from the permanent representative of the Sudan to the United Nations addressed to the secretary-general). Items 30 and 57 of the preliminary list.