Judge Allows Asylum Hearing for Sheika to Proceed in Secret

SAN DIEGO —  The asylum hearing for a Bahraini sheika who used forged documents to enter the United States can go forward in secret, a federal judge has ruled.

Two newspapers and two TV stations had sought access to the hearing for Meriam Al-Khalifa, 19, who fled to the United States a year ago to marry a U.S. Marine.

Al-Khalifa applied for political asylum on the grounds that she faces persecution for marrying a non-Muslim if she returns to Bahrain, a small Persian Gulf island-state. Her husband, Jason Johnson, requested and was granted an administrative discharge from the Marines.

Wednesday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster did not elaborate on the reasons for the secrecy.

The ruling was not entirely unfavorable to the plaintiffs--the San Diego Union-Tribune, the North (San Diego) County Times and television stations KGTV and KNSD. The judge released some documents pertaining to Al-Khalifa’s immigration case and said the final decision about her asylum status will be made public in a limited way.

Guylyn Cummins, the attorney for the media organizations, said no decision had been made about whether to appeal.

Al-Khalifa’s attorney, Jan Bejar, welcomed the ruling as protection for his client.

“This is a sensitive case,” he said. “There are serious issues of security. My client has a reason to be fearful.”

Johnson, 25, met Al-Khalifa last year at a mall in Bahrain, where he was assigned to a security unit.

As his deployment was ending last year, he forged U.S. military documents that she used to fly to the United States on a commercial airplane. Immigration officials in Chicago discovered the ruse.

An immigration judge in July ordered Al-Khalifa to face charges of illegally entering the United States, which could lead to her deportation.

Al-Khalifa’s father is a cousin of Bahrain’s head of state.