Death cult supporter gets 11 years for refusing to talk to Grand Jury

AP/IHT:

A former professor accused of taking part in a Palestinian terrorist network was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison Wednesday for refusing to testify before a U.S. grand jury.

Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 49, a former associate professor of business at Washington's Howard University, was taken into custody by federal marshals immediately after the sentencing, during which prosecutors warned that he might flee.

Ashqar was convicted earlier this year of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify in 2003 before a grand jury investigating the Palestinian militant movement Hamas.

He and co-defendant Muhammad Salah were acquitted of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at bankrolling Hamas in its violent attacks on the government of Israel. But prosecutors presented telephone records showing that Ashqar was in contact with Hamas leaders.

The judge found that Ashqar's refusal to testify was motivated by a desire to "promote terrorism." That toughened the federal sentencing guidelines and guaranteed that he would get a stiff sentence.

One defense attorney called the length of the sentence "obscene."

In a passionate statement before sentencing, Ashqar painted a grim picture of the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and said some of his own relatives had been killed or jailed.

He said he would rather go to prison than betray his people.

"The only option was to become a traitor or a collaborator, and this is something that I can't do and will never do as long as I live," he said.

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He will get a long time to think about the wisdom of his decision not to talk. Hamas is a Palestinian death cult that sends its young out to explode around Israelis in order to commit mass murder. They currently control the Palestinians in Gaza leading many of them to wish for Israeli occupation.

BTW, the prosecutor in this case is U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. He has a reputation of locking people up until they talk.