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Convicted jihadist with California ties loses US citizenship

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SAN FRANCISCO: A federal judge has revoked the U.S. citizenship of a man who authorities say ran a communications hub for an Egyptian terrorist group out of his Northern California apartment.

The U.S. Department of Justice says a federal judge in the District of Columbia ordered the denaturalization of 57-year-old Khaled Abu al-Dahab on Thursday for lying to immigration officials during the process to gain U.S. citizenship.

The department says that the Egypt native was a member of the terrorist organization Egyptian Islamic Jihad for 10 years starting in 1989.

It says the former Silicon Valley car salesman admitted to operating a communications hub for the group out of his Santa Clara, California, apartment.

Al-Dahab became a U.S. citizen on Feb. 7, 1997. The next year he travelled to Egypt, where he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for being a member of a terrorist organization and trying to overthrow the Egyptian government.

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