Rasmea Odeh
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Rasmea Yousef Odeh in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
رسمية يوسف عودة (born 1947/1948; also known as Rasmea Yousef, Rasmieh Steve, and Rasmieh Joseph Steve) is a
Palestinian Jordanian Palestinians in Jordan refers mainly to those with Palestinian refugee status currently residing there. Sometimes the definition includes Jordanian citizens with full Palestinian origin. Most Palestinian ancestors came to Jordan as Palestinian ...
and former American citizen who was a member of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...
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 Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, became a U.S. citizen, and served as associate director at the
Arab American Action Network The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) is a Chicago-based community center founded in 1995 to strengthen the Arab immigrant and Arab American communities in the Chicago area by building their capacity to be active agents for positive social chan ...
in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. On November 10, 2014, Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud by a jury in federal court in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, for concealing her arrest and conviction by military court in Israel. On December 11, 2014, she was released on
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
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 Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
while she was in the custody of Israeli Police in 1969.Israel tortures Arab prisoners
Published in ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' (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). UN General Assembly. Security Council. Thirty-second session. Items 30 and 57 of the preliminary list. Question of Palestine. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the
Occupied Territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...
On February 13, 2015, federal Judge
Gershwin A. Drain Gershwin Allen Drain (born January 24, 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Drain received his Bachelor of Science in 1970 from Western Michigan University, wh ...
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 erexplanation", 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 Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while 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 The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of ...
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.


Conviction and imprisonment by Israel

Originally from
Lifta Lifta ( ar, لفتا; he, ליפתא) was a Palestinian Arab village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The village was depopulated during the early part of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine. In July 2017 Israel declared Lifta (ca ...
, Odeh was arrested in March 1969, and in 1970 was convicted and sentenced by an Israeli military court to
life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
for her involvement in two terrorist bombings in Jerusalem and involvement in an illegal organization, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...
(PFLP). Odeh alleged that her trial and imprisonment were a case of
political detention A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
, and claimed to have suffered torture and rape. The allegations were publicized as early as 1975 as her case was documented by lawyer Felicia Langer in Israel. Allegations that prison authorities tortured Odeh were also aired in 1979 by the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' special investigation team and came out in a special booklet. She alleges that, while undergoing torture, her father was brought into the room, she was stripped and he was asked to have intercourse with her, at which he fainted. It was this, she claims, that led her to make the confession used as state's evidence in her trial. Although Odeh's legal representation disputes the veracity of her confession to these crimes, based on her allegation that it was obtained after torture by the Israeli military, according to American federal prosecutors the Israeli investigators had found "extensive bomb-making materials and explosives" and "explosive bricks in her room". According to
Lis Harris Lis Harris is an American author and critic and was for 25 years a staff writer on The New Yorker magazine which she left in 1995. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The World Policy Journal, Du and the Wilson Quarterly. She is Chair ...
, the trial was a sham, since she was not permitted to speak of torture, and an expert's testimony was disallowed.
Philip Weiss Philip Weiss is an American journalist who co-edits '' Mondoweiss'' ("a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective") with journalist Adam Horowitz. Weiss describes h ...
br>Harris wanted to understand How Israel had gone this way,'
Mondoweiss ''Mondoweiss'' is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on ''The New York Observer'' website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it ...
7 February 2020:'The trial was a sham. She was not allowed to bring up torture. She was not allowed to bring in post-traumatic stress. The expert in this field was not allowed to testify. An appeals court threw it out, and she was going to begin all over again. But by then, Trump had come in. Now they want her out of the country because she is a “terrorist.” It wasn’t an immigration problem, now it’s a terrorism problem, and she and her lawyers thought they can’t win this. And she had to leave the country. She had to leave her life, is what she had to do. And she doesn’t want to talk about it. At least not to me.'
The ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' reports that in the documentary, ''Women in Struggle,'' which was made before her indictment for concealing her arrest, Odeh made no denial that she had a role in the bombings. The video also includes an interview with Aisha Odeh, who was also charged in the case, in which she describes the role Rasmea Odeh played in the bombing; federal prosecutors stated that this version of events corresponds "precisely" with Rasmea Odeh's statement to Israeli authorities on her involvement. It was also pointed out that an observer from the
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
had attended her entire trial and stated that in his opinion, it had been a fair trial. Odeh's primary claim of torture was that her father, Yousef Odeh, who was arrested at the same time as her, was allegedly forced to attempt to rape her on the day of their arrest. Nine days after their arrest, an American consular official visited Yousef Odeh, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, while he was in custody to check on his condition. After their meeting, the official reported back to Washington that Yousef Odeh complained of "uncomfortable, overcrowded" conditions, but was otherwise receiving "no worse than standard treatment." Yousef Odeh did not report any claims of the mistreatment and torture that Rasmea Odeh would later allege. One of the bombings killed 21-year-old Leon Kanner of Netanya and 22-year-old Eddie Joffe of a Tel Aviv suburb, on February 21, 1969. The two were killed by a bomb that was placed in a crowded Jerusalem SuperSol supermarket which the two students stopped in at to buy groceries for a field trip. The same bomb wounded nine others. A second bomb found at the supermarket was defused. Odeh was also convicted of bombing and damaging the
British Consulate This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other ...
four days later. Israeli authorities said the bombings were the work of the PFLP, which claimed credit for the bombings. In 1980, Odeh was among 78 prisoners released by Israel in an exchange with the PFLP for one Israeli soldier captured in Lebanon. Odeh's lawyer stated she testified at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
about being tortured. In a 1980 interview she confessed to participating in two bombings with PFLP, though says the intent was not to hurt anyone.


Entry into US; application for citizenship

In 1995, Odeh entered the United States from Jordan. At the time, according to her later federal indictment, she stated she had no criminal record. The
U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
in the Eastern District of Michigan said: "An individual convicted of a terrorist bombing would not be admitted to the United States if that information was known at the time of arrival." In 2004, Odeh applied to become a
United States citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
. According to her indictment, on her immigration forms, she again answered "no" as to whether she had received any criminal convictions or served any time in prison; her defense attorneys claimed that she understood the form to be referring to her time in the United States. Jennifer Williams, the Detroit immigration officer who interviewed Odeh in 2004, testified that she makes a point of clarifying to applicants that the question applies to convictions "anywhere in the world." Odeh would later testify that Williams had not done so in her case. Odeh was sworn in as a naturalized US citizen under the name "Rasmieh Joseph Steve" on December 9, 2004. She initially lived in
Jackson, Michigan Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approxi ...
. She appeared in the 2004 documentary ''Women in Struggle'' by Buthina Canaan Khoury, about four Palestinian women imprisoned in Israeli jails, which her opponents say provide evidence of her involvement in the bombings, as her co-conspirator Aisha Odeh freely implicated Rasmea Odeh in the bombing. She became associate director of the
Arab American Action Network The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) is a Chicago-based community center founded in 1995 to strengthen the Arab immigrant and Arab American communities in the Chicago area by building their capacity to be active agents for positive social chan ...
in Chicago.


Conviction for immigration fraud in the US

Odeh was indicted on October 17, 2013, for concealing her arrest, conviction, and imprisonment in her application, and for lying as to where she had lived previously. She was arrested five days later at her home in
Evergreen Park, Illinois Evergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. In 2020, the population was 19,943. History As early as 1828, a German farming family had settled in the area of what is now Evergreen Park. In the succeeding decades, other Ge ...
, in the Chicago area. In May 2014, Odeh rejected a pre-trial offer from federal prosecutors that would have limited any prison sentence to a maximum of six months and, after that, allowed her to remain free (for a maximum of six months) until her deportation. She said she felt it was not in her best interest, and preferred the case to go to trial. In August 2014, the first judge assigned to the case, federal district court Judge
Paul Borman Paul David Borman (born January 7, 1939) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, having been appointed in 1994. Borman was earlier an Assistant United States Attorney, and Specia ...
, recused himself after he learned that his family was part owners in the supermarket that had been bombed in 1969. He stated that his financial ties "could be perceived as establishing a reasonably objective inference of a lack of impartiality in the context of the issues presented in this case." Odeh's lawyers had earlier requested that he step down because he had received an award from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit for supporting Israel, that his family had fundraised for a pro-Israeli charity, and that he had made many trips to Israel. He said that Odeh's lawyers were engaged in "careless and rank speculation" for suggesting that he could not be impartial in the case, stating that "a judge’s prior activities relating to his religious convictions are not a valid basis for questioning his impartiality in a particular case". He noted that some of the material brought forward applied to his cousin rather than himself. Odeh was tried in November 2014 for
immigration fraud Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...
before a
federal jury A citizen’s right to a trial by jury is a central feature of the United States Constitution. It is considered a fundamental principle of the American legal system. Laws and regulations governing jury selection and conviction/acquittal require ...
in Detroit, Michigan, with Judge
Gershwin A. Drain Gershwin Allen Drain (born January 24, 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Drain received his Bachelor of Science in 1970 from Western Michigan University, wh ...
presiding. She was accused of concealing her 1969–70 arrest, conviction, and imprisonment when she filed US immigration papers. Odeh was also accused of lying in her immigration papers about her prior residency, falsely claiming that she had lived only in Jordan from 1948 until her application. Before trial, her defense argued that Odeh had been tortured while in prison, and suffered from
posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
. Judge Drain ruled that evidence on these matters were irrelevant to whether Odeh lied on her immigration documents, and disallowed testimony on these topics. Odeh was convicted of immigration fraud in federal court in Detroit on November 10, 2014, for concealing her prior arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. The jury deliberated for two hours before rendering its verdict. Judge Drain told the jury: "I think your verdict is a fair and reasonable one based on the evidence that came in." She had her
bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries ...
revoked and was taken into custody upon the conclusion of her trial, as the judge found her to be a flight risk, and was incarcerated in
Port Huron, Michigan Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...
. On December 8, Judge Drain agreed to allow her to be released on a $50,000 cash
bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...
, pending sentencing, which was effected on December 11, 2014. On February 13, 2015, Judge Drain denied Odeh's request that he either overturn the federal jury's conviction of her or grant her a new trial, ruling that her argument lacked legal merit. The judge held that evidence showed that Odeh illegally obtained U.S. citizenship, the jurors "clearly did not believe erexplanation", and "the evidence was more than sufficient to support the jury’s verdict." Odeh was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison by Judge Drain on March 12, 2015, and it was announced that she would be stripped of her
US citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
and be
deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
from the United States to Jordan at the conclusion of her sentence. She was allowed to go free on bail during her appeal. On February 25, 2016 the
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * Eastern District of Kentucky * Western District of ...
unanimously vacated her conviction of an immigration violation, sending the case back to Judge Drain to reconsider the admissibility of expert testimony. Circuit Judge
John M. Rogers John Marshall Rogers (born June 26, 1948 in Rochester, New York) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Background Rogers received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford Unive ...
, joined partially by Judge
Karen Nelson Moore Karen Nelson Moore (born November 19, 1948) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Her chambers are in Cleveland, Ohio. Education Moore received h ...
, vacated and remanded, while Judge
Alice M. Batchelder Alice M. Moore Batchelder (born August 15, 1944) is an American attorney and jurist. She is currently a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She served as chief judge from 2009 until 20 ...
partially dissented, wanting to vacate while ordering a new trial. On December 6, 2016, Judge Drain in Detroit denied prosecutors’ request to reinstate Odeh’s conviction, instead granting Odeh a new trial, scheduled to begin January 10, 2017. On March 23, 2017, Rasmea Odeh accepted a plea agreement where she would serve no prison time but would lose her U.S. citizenship and be deported. On August 17, 2017, Odeh was formally stripped of her US citizenship in a federal court hearing in Detroit before Judge Gershwin Drain. She was subsequently ordered to be deported to Jordan and to pay a $1,000 fine for immigration fraud. On September 20, 2017, Odeh was deported to Jordan. On March 19, 2019, she was banned from speaking at a public meeting marking
International Women’s Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
after German officials revoked her
Schengen visa The visa policy of the Schengen Area is an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice policy of the European Union. It applies to the Schengen Area and to other EU member states except Ireland. The visa policy allows natio ...
. Berlin city officials forced the Dersim Cultural Community Center to cancel the talk. According to ''
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
'', Strategic Affairs Minister
Gilad Erdan Gilad Menashe Erdan ( he, גִּלְעָד מְנַשֶּׁה אֶרְדָן, ; born 30 September 1970) is an Israelis, Israeli politician and diplomat serving as Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations since 2020. Erdan previo ...
issued a statement saying the decision was made thanks to pressure applied by him and "a slew of Jewish organizations in Germany, as well as protest by the Israeli ambassador in Germany."Berlin blocks appearance of convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh
DW, 16 March 2019.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odeh, Rasmea Yousef 1940s births 20th-century criminals 20th-century Palestinian women American prisoners and detainees Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Illegal immigration to the United States Jordanian people of Palestinian descent Palestinian emigrants to the United States Palestinian human rights activists Palestinian people convicted of murder People convicted of immigration fraud People convicted on terrorism charges People deported from the United States People from Evergreen Park, Illinois People from Jackson, Michigan People imprisoned on charges of terrorism Former United States citizens Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Terrorism in Israel Torture victims Palestinian people imprisoned by Israel