Los Angeles -- A federal judge on Friday denied a government appeal to keep incarcerated a top fundraiser for an Islamic charity the government says has ties to terrorism. The motion came a day after U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered the release without bond of Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, who is being held at the Terminal Island federal detention facility.Hatter denied the motion without comment, according to court documents filed late Friday. It was unclear when Hamdan could be released, or whether the government would appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Calls to the Department of Justice after business hours were not answered. Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the department was aware of the judge's decision and was reviewing its legal options.
In Friday's motion, the government argued "in the context of a case where the alien has been found to engage in terrorist activity, the alien should remain detained." Contacted at her home late Friday, Hamdan's wife, Entesar Hamdan, said she was unaware of the motion but hoped the government wouldn't take the case any further. "I didn't expect they would take it one last step," she said.