Ann Arbor Muslim leader Rabih Haddad's fourth public hearing last week had a presence not seen in his previous three - print and television reporters. Due to an April decision by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds that declared the closure of immigration hearings unconstitutional, Haddad had his first open hearing since his Dec. 14 arrest for visa violation charges.

Lawyers from both sides were present at Tuesday's 10-minute hearing, as was Haddad via the presence of a closed circuit television from the Monroe County Jail. The main purpose of the hearing was for Haddad's attorneys to present an application for asylum in the United States on Haddad's behalf.

"(The Haddad family) has been motivated to stay in America by the vast and genuine outpouring of community support," Haddad's attorney Ashraf Nubani said in court.

Phillis Englebert, an Ann Arbor Adhoc Committee for Peace member and a Haddad supporter, said she thinks Haddad's lawyers feel his returning to Lebanon might not be a positive experience, considering what he has gone through in the past seven months. "The situation created by his arrest could possibly cause him problems (there)," she said.

Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker set an asylum date hearing for Aug. 27.

Until less than a month ago, Haddad was in the custody of the federal government, being detained in the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center. Some believed he was waiting to be called in front of a grand jury for questioning about the charity he co-founded, the Global Relief Foundation. But four weeks ago, the federal government transferred Haddad back into the custody of Immigration and Naturalization Services in Michigan.

At the end of January, a group composed of the American Civil Liberties Union, U.S. House Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) and two Detroit newspapers sued the federal government to open Haddad's immigration hearings. After Edmunds' April ruling, the federal government appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a hearing is now set for Aug. 6. Asim Ghafoor, spokesman for the Committee to Free Rabih Haddad, said the open hearing was a partial relief for Haddad and his supporters.

"It shows that our guy is not the super secret dangerous ... terrorist that the government tries to make him appear," Ghafoor said.