Afghan Woman Deported from U.S. in First Use of Secretive Terrorism Court

Britannica

U.S. Department of ​Justice.

An Afghan woman accused of supporting the Islamic State has been deported from the United States in the first case to be pursued by the U.S. Department of Justice through a little-known court created 30 years ago to deport "alien terrorists."

Nazira Haji ‌Zada, a 47-year-old who had been residing in Texas as a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was deported after agreeing not to continue to fight against her removal in the Alien Terrorist Removal Court following her arrest in July, the department said on Friday.

The Justice Department had accused her of helping conceal a failed, Islamic State-inspired plot to commit a mass shooting on ⁠Election Day 2024. She was never charged with any crime, but her son and son-in-law pleaded guilty to related charges last year.

Her case had been filed in a court that had gone unused in the decades since its creation by Congress in 1996. That court allows the government to rely on classified evidence in deportation cases.

Her attorney initially argued the secretive process violated her due process rights. Defendants in such cases are not allowed to review the classified evidence used against them.

But according to court documents unsealed on Friday, Haji Zada agreed last month that she was an "alien terrorist" subject to removal. ‌The ⁠court's chief judge, Joan Ericksen, subsequently approved her deportation, opens new tab.

Source: Reuters



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