Created: 4/14/2004 7:32:38 AM

Updated: 4/14/2004 10:36:23 AM

(GANNETT) — U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has added her voice to those who are pressing for the release of Ansar Mahmood, a Pakistani immigrant who has been detained at the federal lockup in Batavia for more than two years.

Mahmood was taken into custody not long after the September 2001 terrorist attacks after he was observed taking a photograph under suspicious circumstances. He was cleared of any terrorist connections but was ordered deported on an immigration law charge.

He gave up his final legal appeal in January and asked instead that federal officials release him on probation on humanitarian grounds.

Activists in Rochester and in the Hudson Valley, where Mahmood lived, have been lobbying for his release and have enlisted a number of public officials, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to their cause.

On Monday, Clinton sent a letter to an immigration official, saying she found the facts of Mahmood’s case “disturbing.” She stopped short of calling for his release but asked officials to inform her further on Mahmood’s case and the status of his request for supervised release.

Officials from the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Enforcement could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Mahmood was a legal immigrant who worked as a pizza deliveryman in Hudson, Columbia County. After the picture-taking episode, he was charged with an immigration-related felony for giving financial assistance to a Pakistani family who lacked proper visas. He pleaded guilty and became subject to mandatory deportation.