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Immigration officials release USF studentBy Times staff writer© St. Petersburg Times, published December 12, 2001 After spending nearly 80 days behind bars, a Jordanian student studying chemical engineering at the University of South Florida was released this week. Ala'a Hamed Kababji, 23, left a detention center in Bradenton on Monday after immigration officials dropped efforts to deport him. Kababji, who came to the United States from Jordan in August, can now return to classes at USF. The Immigration and Naturalization Service kept Kababji in custody in October and moved to deport him for violating his student visa. The INS said he violated his visa when USF police arrested him Sept. 26 on charges of raping another student. The woman, a 27-year-old exchange student, claimed Kababji emotionally manipulated her into sex; Kababji said the couple was dating. Prosecutors never formally filed the charges, citing a lack of evidence. But because USF had suspended Kababji after his arrest, the INS took him into custody for violating the terms of his visa. Originally, the government held Kababji without bail during deportation proceedings. Kababji spent Tuesday celebrating his release and buying gifts for his family in Amman, Jordan, said his cousin, Asem Zaitoun.
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