New trial ordered for Chicago activist in immigration case

DETROIT (AP) — A judge in Detroit has ordered a new trial for a Chicago activist who was granted U.S. citizenship without disclosing her conviction for bombings in Israel decades ago.

Rasmea Odeh will be allowed to show that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder when she was interviewed in Detroit during the citizenship process in 2004. Federal Judge Gershwin Drain didn’t allow the evidence during Odeh’s trial.

In 2014, she was convicted of lying to get U.S. citizenship and sentenced to 18 months in prison. She’s been free during her appeal.

Odeh was convicted of two bombings in Jerusalem in 1969, including one that killed two people. She says she was tortured into confessing.

She’s a pro-Palestinian activist and affiliated with the Arab American Action Network in Chicago. Drain’s decision was released Tuesday.