The Victorian Labor MP blocked from entering the United States on an official study tour once signed a letter professing loyalty to Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad.
Upper house MP Khalil Eideh was born in the Lebanese city of Tripoli to Syrian parents who follow the Alawite Islamic faith.
He moved to Australia in 1970 aged 15 and later became a mail officer with Australia Post.
From the 19 years up until he entered parliament in 2006 he was managing director of Bluestar Logistics, a trucking company based in Melbourne's west.
When elected as an upper house MP for the Western Metropolitan Region, Mr Eideh faced attacks over a letter he signed in 2002 seeking to get the Syrian Honorary Counsel in Melbourne removed because he played a "divisive" role in the local community.
"At a time when the danger and threat from the colonial and Zionist is increasing on our Arabic world in general ... an oppressive mentality surfaced in Melbourne, Australia, aiming to create a tremendous crisis within the Alawi Islamic Association," the letter reads.
The letter ended with a pledge to President Assad: "Loyalty, absolute loyalty to your courageous and wise leadership and we pledge to continue to be faithful soldiers behind your victorious leadership".
He later wrote to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria saying he signed a "standard form letter" to the Syrian government and it had been taken out of context.
"I abhor and reject terrorism and all it represents. I would never assist a regime that supports or promotes terrorism," Mr Eideh wrote in June 2006.
It's understood Mr Eideh has also visited Syria.
Since being elected Mr Eideh has been a backbencher in the upper house and served on a number of committees.
He was travelling through Europe and Canada as part of an Inquiry into Drug Law Reform committee, with Sex Party MP Fiona Patten, Liberal MP Martin Dixon and fellow Labor MPs Natalie Suleyman and Geoff Howard.
The MPs were due to spend two days in Denver and a day in Sacramento before flying home.
