DEARBORN – The
FBI’s Detroit field office issued a statement today reiterating the innocence
of 

Ali Hammoud, President of Bint Jebail Cultural Center

 President Ali Hammoud, calling him a
“respected community leader” and stating once again that he was not
the person sought by the federal government after a Friday night arrest made by
Dearborn Police. 

Dearborn Police arrested Hammoud on Friday, Nov. 11, acting
on a federal warrant for a man of the same name who was suspected of smuggling
and supporting Hizbullah.

According to Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad  the information sent to his department
on Friday from the Law enforcement Information Network as entered by federal
authorities including the name, address, Michigan driver’s license number,
physical description and more all matched Hammoud.

Haddad made the announcement at a press conference on Monday, saying that the
police’s actions were proper in the situation. He also called it
“unfortunate” and said that officers followed procedures and were
courteous and professional.

 Hammoud was kept in prison for about 12 hours following the
wrongful arrest.

He was also questioned by the FBI before being released, his
attorney Majed Moughni said according to local news reports. The man the FBI
had been seeking was involved in a case from 2006 and may have left the country
for Lebanon.

Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News heard
about the arrest late Friday evening and made phone calls early Saturday
morning to FBI Special Agent in Charge Andy Arena as well as Haddad to inform
him that they had the wrong person.

Siblani said he took strong issue with the arrest of
Hammoud, who is well known in the community.

“The problem is, why did the FBI know that he is not
the man that they want while the police took all night (to figure that
out),” Siblani asked, referring to his conversation with Arena on the
following morning.

“The FBI was on their way to pick him up for
arraignment and then later Andy Arena called to say he’s been released and he’s
not the guy we’re looking at.”

Siblani still could not believe it had happened; Hammoud
also told him he felt the same way and said he is “very distressed”
by the mistake and wrongful arrest.

“They should have used common sense to determine
whether he was the right man or not, there are many people to check with in
this community.

“That shows a lack of respect and careless behavior,
once again they have proved they are not a community police force…we should
not be treated like we’re under occupation, this is an extremely distressful
situation.”

To
discuss the situation, the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) has
called for an emergency meeting with community leaders at 6 p.m. on Wednesday
at Bint Jebail Cultural Center.