Israel arrested the former imam of Ohio's largest mosque after he was deported from the United States last week, the Shin Bet internal security service confirmed.

Fawaz Damra, 46, was arrested because of his ties to Islamic Jihad, a militant Palestinian group classified by Israel and the U.S. as a terrorist organization, Shin Bet told The Associated Press on Tuesday. It gave no other details.

Smadar Ben-Natan, an Israeli lawyer retained by Damra's family to represent him, said Damra was being held at the Kishon prison and she planned to meet with her client Wednesday.

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Damra's family, friends and members of the Islamic community in Ohio reacted with outrage Tuesday and demanded that the U.S. government be held accountable for Damra ending up in Israeli custody.

Damra, a Palestinian originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, was deported by American authorities last week because he concealed his ties to Islamic Jihad when he applied for American citizenship in 1994. Relatives expecting him to enter the West Bank on Friday reported he never showed up and said they had been told by the Red Cross he was detained, but there was not any official Israeli confirmation until Tuesday.

"We waited for him all day and he didn't come," said Nabil Damra, the imam's brother. "He is not an extremist and we don't understand why he was arrested."

"My mother is crying. Our house is sad. My father, who is 83, is waiting for his son. We pray that my brother will come home and see his father before he dies," he said.

Islamic Jihad, a small radical group with links to Iran and Syria, has carried out dozens of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel.

During his trial, jurors were shown evidence that Damra raised money for the organization, along with footage of a 1991 speech in which he called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs." He later apologized for making anti-Semitic statements.

Damra, whose wife and three daughters remain in the U.S., served as the imam, or religious leader, of the Islamic Center of Cleveland in suburban Parma.

His supporters gathered at the mosque Tuesday along with his wife and
children, expressing concern for his safety.

"There seems to be widespread speculation that my husband's disappearance has him in a place where there is no due process, where he is likely to be tortured or worse," said Nesreen Damra, barely able to read her prepared statement through tears.

Damra's Detroit-based attorney, Mo Abdrabboh, said he planned to pursue legal action once he gained more information on Damra's whereabouts and the process in which he was removed from the country.

"My concern is that this deportation process was used as an extradition without hearing," Abdrabboh said. "This seemingly deliberate handover of Damra to a country known for its torture techniques is alarming, and it should shock the conscience of all Americans."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Greg Palmore denied Abdrabboh's assertion that the government's intent was to hand Damra over to Israeli authorities.

"Our goal was to carry out the deportation of Mr. Damra. It was achieved," Palmore said.

Despite a campaign by his family and supporters to keep him in the U.S., Damra was deported after spending a year in a Michigan jail. Damra's relatives in the U.S. said they hadn't been notified he had been deported, and found out only when his lawyer arrived at the jail and found him gone.

"Being Americans as we are, we expect a little fairness, to a degree, to the extent they would let him call his wife and children," said Haider Alawan, a friend of Damra and member of the Islamic Center of Cleveland's council of elders.

Damra was flown to Jordan, and then taken overland to the Allenby Bridge, an Israeli-controlled crossing into the West Bank, where he apparently was taken into Israeli custody.

Palmore said U.S. agents accompanied Damra to the Allenby Bridge.

"Mr. Damra was presented to Israeli immigration officials for admission to the West Bank," Palmore said.

Damra's brother, a UN worker in the West Bank, said the imam's work in the U.S. revolved around marrying and divorcing Muslims and lecturing to
prisoners.

"He always got along with all people. He is a moderate. If he upheld extremist views, people wouldn't have loved him. He wouldn't be helping everyone," Nabil Damra said.