An immigration judge yesterday dismissed the deportation case against Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas founder who had become a spy for Israel. The author of Son of Hamas (Tyndale House Publishers), Yousef spoke at ICRS while under threat of being deported.

Yousef's appearance at Sunday's Pacesetter event had not been advertised in advance due to security concerns. He received a standing ovation there and also had a long line for his book signing at the Tyndale booth the following day.

The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas, Yousef exposes the secrets of the extremist organization and reveals the double life he lived, in his book that released in March under Tyndale's SaltRiver imprint.

The judge's ruling yesterday in San Diego came after the federal government decided that Yousef was not a terrorist threat. Yousef, 32, had argued that he would be killed if deported because he had become a Christian and because he had spied on Hamas for Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency.

The Department of Homeland Security initially denied Yousef's asylum request in February 2009. No explanation was given by the government attorney for the abrupt change in position, the Associated Press reported.

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