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Palestinian Activist Faces Jail Again in U.S.

(Washington Post) - Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a Palestinian activist in the U.S. with alleged ties to Hamas, is scheduled to be jailed for the second time in five years for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the terrorist group's finances and activities. In court records from previous cases, authorities have alleged that Ashqar organized meetings with Hamas activists in Philadelphia in 1993 and Oxford, Miss., where he was a graduate student, in 1994. Hamas was declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel in 1995. In a District of Columbia case involving an Islamic charity, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled in 2002 that Ashqar was "a senior Hamas activist." The FBI since last November has intensified investigations into the alleged supporters of Hamas and Hizballah after a federal court ruling that allowed government agents to use decades worth of classified wiretaps and intelligence reports from foreign security agents that previously had been off limits. Ashqar, 45, received his doctorate from the University of Mississippi's business school in 1997. While there, his apartment was bugged.
2003-09-05 00:00:00
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