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An update on the Salah/Ashqar case. Look at what they were convicted for, and think about the acquittals. By Mike Robinson for Associated Press, with thanks to Drew:
CHICAGO - Two men accused of furnishing money and fresh recruits to the militant Palestinian group Hamas were acquitted Thursday of racketeering but convicted on lesser charges.The two men beamed broadly at the split verdict and defense attorneys immediately declared victory in the three-month trial that the government had described as a major component in its war on terrorism.
"We are not terrorists," former grocer Muhammad Salah told reporters as he left the courthouse with his 8-year-old son, Ibrahim, on his shoulders. "I feel good," he said as he was hugged by relatives and well wishers. "I thank God and I hope justice will prevail."
"This is a great day for justice," said Salah's attorney, Michael E. Deutsch.
Salah, 53, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 48, a one-time assistant business professor at Howard University in Washington, had been accused of laundering money for Hamas terrorists fighting to topple the Israeli government.
Defense attorneys portrayed the men as freedom fighters, comparing them to Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Salah and Ashqar, who lives in Springfield, Va., have always denied being members of Hamas. But they have made no secret of their dislike of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Salah was convicted of obstruction of justice for providing false answers to questions in a civil suit filed by parents of an American teenager who was shot and killed by Hamas terrorists at an Israeli bus stop.
Ashqar was convicted of obstruction of justice and criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury after receiving immunity from prosecution for anything that he might have revealed.
Posted by Robert at February 2, 2007 7:38 AM
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taqiyya and kithman at its finest and unforunately it seems to work.
Posted by: Arnie![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 2, 2007 7:52 AM
I've been following this site on and off for awhile now, and I have a question. Do the two authors believe the effort to build a peaceful Iraq is doomed to fail because all 'cultural Muslims' are vulnerable to the call of Jihad based on the Koran, or not?
Posted by: David Weisman at February 2, 2007 8:30 AM
I've been following this site on and off for awhile now, and I have a question. Do the two authors believe the effort to build a peaceful Iraq is doomed to fail because all 'cultural Muslims' are vulnerable to the call of Jihad based on the Koran, or not?
Posted by: David Weisman at February 2, 2007 08:30 AM
David,
If you really followed this site on and off then you wouldn't ask question like this.
Reading some books, like the quran, sunnahs and hadiths are pretty much self-explaining about this.
Posted by: Arnie at February 2, 2007 8:43 AM
I think I'm going to throw up on my computer after reading this.
My doctor will probably ban me from this site-too many of these stories will raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels.
Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at February 2, 2007 8:54 AM
Agreed, Mother Ecc.. Including Keith Ellison who had to swear on the Koran and we let him. Disgusting and oh how stupid...
Posted by: darcy at February 2, 2007 9:59 AM
All four of the local TV news broadcasts here in Chicago last night featured beaming reporters speaking in glowing terms about Salah's "acquittal" with only a small phrase mentioned at the end about what they were convicted on. Then pictures of the happy reunion with his family (women smiling through their drapery of course). Then they showed Salah and male friends facing Mecca and bowing in prayer in front of our Federal Bldg in Chicago's Loop. Take it from me, if my parish priest or even Cardinal Francis George tried to lead us RC's in a Rosary in front of the Federal Bldg we'd be hauled away faster than you could say "GO BEARS". (Had to work that in somehow.)
Posted by: bevc at February 2, 2007 11:13 AM
I am sickened by the willingness of so many Jewish lawyers (Deutsch, presumably, being one of them) to defend those who aid and abet the campaign of villification and murder of Jews in Israel and across the globe. I believe that even if Deutsch and his ilk were actually aware of the fact that Islam is inherently antisemitic (yes, I know - Islam is anti-Christian, anti Hindu, anti-Buddist -anti everything non-Islamic), they would still perversely rush to defend these murderous barbarians out of some deeply instilled, misplaced sense of being obligated to uphold "social justice." Never underestimate the zeal on the part of so many Jews to facilitate their own destruction. I say this as a Jew myself, albeit one who no longer has any religious beliefs.
Posted by: commonsense at February 2, 2007 12:24 PM
Will they be stripped of any citizenship or residency rights and deported?
They are not good citizens. USA doesn't need them
No doubt that they will now end up with high level positions in either the FBI or the CIA; USA doesn't need them, true, it is a question of want and the government desires them.
at February 2, 2007 6:10 PM
I have been reading news and comments here for a couple of months now and previously asked about actually doing something to lift awareness in our local area.
My local paper has agreed to publish a sura verse and a bible verse in the Public Notice of the paper every week.
I have been studying Islam/the Quo'ran/the situation in the Middle East/History and think I have a pretty good handle on it. I have been asked to speak about Islam amongst my church friends but before I do is there anyone out there who would like to critique what I have to say with a view of adding more or correcting mistakes.
Everything that is happening today is in Bible Prophecy and I really don't think we are going to stop the march of Islam until Jesus comes back.
(Sorry if I have offended anyone with that last remark)
at February 3, 2007 4:38 AM
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