Kurdish Journalist Is Granted Asylum

Four days after ordering six Iraqis deported as threats to U.S. national security, an immigration judge in Los Angeles on Friday granted political asylum to a 47-year-old Kurdish journalist from northern Iraq, the man’s attorney said.

Judge D.D. Sitgraves found that Hashim Hawlery would likely face persecution if returned to his homeland, said lawyer Niels Frenzen.

The decision allows Hawlery, who had been in custody for almost a year, to be reunited with his wife and seven children, who live in Glendale and were granted asylum last year.

The U.S. government brought Hawlery and the other Iraqis to the United States as part of a large-scale evacuation after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein foiled a coup attempt and crushed opposition in northern Iraq.

Unlike the six ordered deported, the government threw out charges that Hawlery was a national security threat and did not attempt to introduce secret testimony. The judge has granted asylum to one other Iraqi evacuee; the asylum case of a ninth evacuee is pending.