A federal judge Tuesday sentenced a Jordanian woman to 15 months in prison for illegally entering the United States, despite her tearful explanation she believed her family in her native country wanted to kill her. In handing down the sentence for Wafa Mustafa, 35, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar said he was troubled by the defendant’s long history of felony convictions in the years she spent in the United States.

"Every country has the right to protect itself and its citizens," Coar said. "You have shown a flagrant disregard for the laws of our nation." Mustafa last lived in Oak Lawn. Before the judge announced his sentence, Mustafa begged him to give her probation, saying she only came back to the United States because she was afraid her family wanted her dead because they believed she had disgraced them.

"Being there (in Jordan), knowing that they want to kill you … of course I’m going to run," Mustafa said, adding that she also wanted to get back to her children, who live in this country. "I have no place else to go. No other options."

But Coar noted 10 convictions on Mustafa’s record, including state convictions for retail theft, criminal trespass and reckless conduct dating back to 1992. In 1996, Mustafa pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Rueben Castillo to calling in a phony threat that a bomb was aboard a Chicago-bound Royal Jordanian jet carrying a relative, according to court records.

Source: [NBC5]

I don’t buy this woman’s claims of being chased by her family. I think she is so desperate to get into the "New World" that she is playing the honor crime card — a very salable concept in the west. It would be expected from someone that pleaded guilty to calling in a phony bomb threat of a Royal Jordanian plane. I’m glad they didn’t buy her fabrications! Maybe she and Norma Khoury should get together! They could have a nice chat!