Lebanese Man Arrested by Mistake over Wrong U.S. Terror Warrant

A federal terrorism case arrest warrant mistakenly gave the name, address and driver's license number of the Lebanese-American head of a popular Arab-American group, leading to his wrongful arrest, a suburban Detroit police chief said Monday.

Dearborn police arrested Ali Hammoud on Friday night. He was released Saturday after the FBI found he was the wrong man.

Hammoud is president of Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn. It is named for an area in southern Lebanon, many of whose residents have immigrated to the Detroit area.

The center has hosted ceremonies for new U.S. citizens and speeches by prominent government officials, including CIA Director Leon Panetta, in 2009.

Dearborn is the center of southeastern Michigan's large Middle Eastern immigrant community, numbering about 300,000.

A different Ali Hammoud was indicted in 2003 for allegedly helping give financial support to Hizbullah.

The government said he and 17 others participated in a conspiracy involving the sale of illegal cigarettes, counterfeit Viagra and stolen goods to support Hizbullah.

In a news release, Dearborn police Chief Ronald Haddad called the situation "unfortunate" but said his investigation concluded that Dearborn officers "were professional, courteous and were in accordance with departmental procedures."

"My officers arrested the man listed in the LEIN (police computer) system as wanted by federal authorities," Haddad said.

According to the release, the arrest warrant "listed a name, address, Michigan driver's license number, physical description, and other personal information that all matched Mr. Hammoud."

"Mr. Hammoud is not the target of any Dearborn police investigation," the statement said. Haddad said he was confident the FBI would take further steps in the matter.

Without directly apologizing, the FBI said Monday that Hammoud "has not been tied to any terrorist organization, and he is recognized as a respected community leader."

The FBI said Hammoud had "identifiers identical to those of an individual with an active federal warrant." It did not say how his driver's license number and address ended up in the arrest information for the wanted man.

FBI spokesman Simon Shaykhet declined to say exactly how Hammoud's personal information became part of the fugitive's file, adding, "We're working on a way to differentiate his identity from that of Ali Hammoud to prevent this from happening again."

Hammoud has had previous problems because of the name he shares with the suspect and had taken steps to avoid problems when he travels, such as trip he took this fall to Lebanon, said his lawyer, Majed Moughni.

Moughni said Hammoud was returning from dinner with three of his six sons when he found three police officers at his house. The officers claimed to be investigating a break-in asked Hammoud for identification, then arrested him outside his home, the lawyer said.

Moughni said Hammoud told the officers, "Listen, guys, this has happened to me twice before."