US

Alleged terroristic student deported from New York

By Chen Weihua (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-10 17:28

NEW YORK - Zhai Tiantian, the Chinese student charged with making terroristic threats in New Jersey, left the JFK airport for Beijing Monday afternoon aboard Air China 982.

Zhai's lawyers, friends and a small group of journalists were waiting in vain for Zhai at the Air China counter as Zhai, with hands cuffed and feet shackled, entered the terminal via a private channel, accompanied by five guards.

Hai Ming, Zhai's lawyer, told China Daily that Zhai called him after boarding the plane, using the cell phone of another passenger. "He wanted me to lodge a complaint," Hai said. The handcuffs and foot shackles were removed before boarding the plane.

"He was leaving on a voluntary departure granted by the federal judge of the immigrant court. But now he has been treated like a felon," Hai said.

Hai said he will file a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security, which agreed with Hai to buy an air ticket for Zhai and leave voluntarily. "This is not voluntary departure, this is like deportation," said the lawyer.

Zhai's friend, Wang Meiying, a woman from Taiwan, had prepared two small suitcases of luggage for Zhai at the airport but did not get a chance to see him. "Can I at least give him some clothes?" she asked Air China customer service manager Lin Ying.

The customer service agent denied her request, citing rules by the US authorities.

Zhai was imprisoned in New Jersey for nearly 120 days. The 26-year-old first enrolled in the Stevens Institute of Technology in 2003. He finished both his bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in system engineering there. He was pursuing a doctorate in enterprise systems when the school suspended him on March 12 this year, citing his major violations of the code of conduct for students.

On April 15, police arrested Zhai after the institute reported that Zhai phoned the school and threatened to burn down a school building. His student visa was revoked that day by immigration authorities.

After spending two and a half months in the Hudson County Correctional Center, Zhai was moved on July 2 to the Elizabeth Detention Center, where suspected illegal immigrants, including asylum seekers, are held.

On July 21, the New York County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute him for alleged aggravated harassment, one of two criminal cases Zhai was facing at the moment. The case was filed by a young woman teaching at the New York University.

Hai said Zhai retains the right to sue the teacher for making the false complaint. That charge was believed to have a direct link to Zhai's ordeal in the past six months.

While the charge of aggravated harassment against Zhai was dismissed, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, which initially wanted to push for a grand jury trial against Zhai for his alleged terroristic threats, had also been talking to Zhai's lawyers, April Petersen and Hai Ming, for a plea bargain. If Zhai was willing to accept a plea bargain, the prosecutor would only charge him with a misdemeanor.

But Zhai wanted to pursue a full acquittal, although his lawyers said they hoped he would accept the plea bargain.

"Zhai said he would regret pleading guilty. He believes he was totally innocent," said Hai.

Hai said Zhai is ready to come back to the US to prove his innocence if the New Jersey Superior Court opens his case.

Both Hai and Wang Meiying, whose restaurant outside the Stevens Institute in Hoboken was frequented by Zhai, described Zhai as Americanized. "He is more like an American kid than a Chinese student," said Wang.

Wang blamed the institute for suspending Zhai without any prior notice to his families. "He has never received any disciplinary penalty from the school before, so a sudden suspension from the school was just not right. The subsequent revocation of Zhai's visa has caused all the following trouble," Wang said.

Zhai, a native of Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province, first visited the US in 1995 when he attended a drawing competition.

He spent part of his high school in Malta in southern Europe before coming to the US in 2003.

Leo Hurley, the assistant prosecutor at the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office that handled Zhai's case, did not return China Daily's call yesterday.

Hai said both the FBI and the Department of Defense visited Zhai in the immigration prison in the last few days. "It was just a regular chat," Hai quoted Zhai as saying. While Hai did not understand why the FBI talked to Zhai, he understood the visit by a Department of Defense official since Stevens is involved in research of military related projects.

Zhai's case became an international incident with stories widely printed in Chinese news media and blogs. Some have described the case as racial discrimination and an example of the flawed US justice system while others said he deserves to be punished for what he allegedly did.

Many had mistakenly equated the charge of "terroristic threats", or making verbal threats, to someone being charged as a terrorist.

China Daily