Arabic tutor Majed Talat Hajbeh, 58 (pictured during his immigration detention), has been convicted by a federal jury of transporting and receiving 800 videos and photos depicting child pornography through a messaging app
A federal jury on Tuesday convicted an Arabic and Koran tutor from Virginia on charges of transporting and receiving child pornography - more than 14 years after his release from immigration detention in a terrorism-related case.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, from May 2019 to January 2020, Majed Talat Hajbeh, 58, used a messaging app to forward himself over 800 videos and images of child pornography.
A press release from the US Department of Justice stated that along with the videos, Hajbeh, a married father-of-seven who also goes by 'Abu Khaled,' forwarded himself links to online groups where child pornography was openly traded, some of which had names such as 'Send Child Porn,' 'Only Children Sex,' 'kids only cp,' and '12 years kids XXX child.'
Prior to his indictment last December, Hajbeh operated a small business providing Arabic language and religious tutoring to children.
Prosecutors said that GPS data from Hajbeh's phone showed that some of the child pornography was forwarded to the tutor's electronic devices from the homes of his students.
Hajbeh, who is originally from the Palestinian territories, made headlines in June 2007, when he was released from immigration detention after spending four years behind bars in connection with a series of bombings that took place in Jordan.
He was arrested and detained in 2003 in a sweep of suspected immigration violators. An immigration judge ordered him deported, reasoning he entered incorrect information on papers when he entered the US in 1993 by checking the box for 'single' instead of 'married,' reported
Hajbeh made headlines in June 2007, when he was released from immigration detention after spending four years behind bars. He is pictured with six of his seven children. He was convicted in absentia in Jordan in 1999 of plotting bombings
Hajbeh was acquitted in federal court of a criminal charge of falsifying the document.
The US had tried to deport him to Jordan, where he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of plotting bombings - a claim he denied.
The deportation order was suspended because of evidence that he would face torture if returned to Jordan.
The government argued that Hajbeh should be kept in detention until he is deported because he poses a danger to the public based on his terrorism conviction in Jordan.
A federal judge ultimately ruled that the US government violated Hajbeh's constitutional rights because it took too long to find a country that will take him.
Hajbeh faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison when sentenced in the child pornography case on February 11, 2022.