Palestinian terrorist gets jail in US for lying on immigration application

A Chicago activist has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to disclose her convictions for bombings in Israel when she applied to be a US citizen.

Rasmieh Odeh appears in Detroit’s federal court, backed by dozens of supporters. She will remain free while she appeals.

Judge Gershwin Drain says Odeh was a “terrorist” decades ago but has changed her ways. Nonetheless, he says, she lied.

The 67-year-old Odeh helps run Chicago’s Arab American Action Network. In 2004, she answered “no” on her citizenship application when asked about past convictions. She says she believed the questions were about US crimes.

Odeh was convicted of two bombings in Jerusalem in 1969, including one that killed two people at a market. She says she was tortured into confessing.

— AP