SAN DIEGO, CA (ANS) -- Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of the best-selling, “Son of Hamas” has won the right to stay in the Unites States after a huge campaign by both Christians and Jews had called for him to be granted U.S. asylum.

With his friends in court to support him, Yousef got the news during a 15-minute deportation hearing today (Wednesday, June 30, 2010,) in San Diego, California, after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security attorney said the government was dropping its objections.

Yousef is the eldest son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and became a Christian some time back after being given a Gospel tract in Jerusalem by a London taxi driver who was on vacation in the Holy Land.

After his conversion, he later became a spy for Israel’s Shin Bet agency and their leadership had praised his courage.

The battle to keep Yousef in American began when the DHS denied his asylum request in February 2009, claiming that he had been involved in terrorism and was a threat to the United States.

Among his supporters is former CIA director James Woolsey who had had told reporters at a recent Capitol Hill dinner to honor Mosab and others, “My view is that the decision to deny him political refugee status was incredibly idiotic. It’s hard to think of a worse immigration decision in history. It’s fundamentally nuts.”

In the surprise turnaround, Attorney Kerri Calcador gave no explanation for the government's change of heart, but those close to the case believe it was because so many people had spoken up for Yousef, pointing out the weakness in their case, and also because they believed he would be assassinated if he was returned to the Middle East.

The immigration judge, Rico Bartolomei said that Yousef will be allowed to remain in the United States after a routine background check and also that he is fingerprinted.

“I will keep fighting the ideology that is behind terrorists because I know how they think,” he told reporters outside the courtroom.

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available here