Islamabad (PTI): A US court has ordered deportation of the brother of Lashker-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on a charge of violating immigration laws in his bid to obtain green card.

The Boston court ordered the deportation of Muhammad Masood, the former Imam of the Islamic Centre of New England, on Thursday.

After the court order, Masood agreed to voluntarily leave America for Pakistan late Friday under an agreement with US immigration authorities rather than be deported which would have taken months and he would have had to spend this period in jail, a Pakistani daily reported.

Masood was accused of having lied to immigration authorities during 2002-06 in a bid to obtain a green card. In February, he pleaded guilty to five federal crimes stemming from his actions and this led to the deportation order.

The Imam, who came to the US in 1987 under a special visa for exchange of students, will leave his wife and eight children behind in the country. Masood initially enrolled at Vanderbilt University and later transferred to Boston University to study economics.

He became the Imam of the mosque in Sharon in 1998. In December 2002, Masood admitted that he had falsely told authorities in an application for permanent legal residency that he returned to Pakistan during 1991-93 after completing his studies.

Immigrants with the kind of visa Masood had are required by law to return to their country of origin for two years before they can apply for a green card. Masood later said he never left Boston.

He also admitted to falsely telling immigration authorities that he had not been arrested for any crimes. He was arrested for alleged shoplifting in Norwood in 2000. The charge was dismissed.