A federal judge has rejected an effort by the Justice Department to strip a terrorist of U.S. citizenship.
Pakistani-born Iyman Faris, a former Columbus-area resident, is serving a 20-year sentence imposed in 2003 for his guilty plea to plotting with al-Qaida to destroy New York's Brooklyn Bridge. A 2017 government filing launched the revocation bid. Among other things, prosecutors argue Faris entered the country under false pretenses using someone else's passport. The judge ruled there's not enough evidence to prove Faris' misrepresentations influenced the decision to grant him citizenship. Faris' attorney says the government's action violated the terms of his plea agreement, which did not include the possibility of denaturalization or deportation.