Officials arrest former Seattle mosque leader

The well-known leader of a former storefront mosque in Seattle's Rainier Valley is being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Officials arrested Abrahim Sheikh Mohamed, 38, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday night after he returned from Dallas. Mohamed, who is from Somalia, allegedly was in the United States illegally, according to Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice, and will have a hearing before the Immigration Court in Seattle. No date has been set.

Mohamed was the imam of the Abu-Bakr Mosque, which closed two months ago because it didn't have a permanent home. Followers meet instead on the New Holly Neighborhood Campus and at other mosques for their five-times-daily prayer, said a man who worked for the Somali Community Coalition who declined to give his name.

He said the arrest shocked the Somali community.

Mohamed lives in SeaTac with his wife. She declined to comment, as did another person at Mohamed's home Wednesday.

Should the Immigration Court rule against Mohamed, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last January has cleared the way for him to be returned to the East African nation, regardless of what that tumultuous nation's future might be. Before the ruling, the U.S. could not send illegal immigrants to any country lacking a central government.

A transitional government recently took control of the country but has no legal power, even to protect ships on its coast from piracy.

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com