Both Sides Claim Victory In Terror Trial

(CBS/AP)  Two men accused of furnishing money and fresh recruits to the militant Palestinian group Hamas were acquitted by a federal jury Thursday of racketeering but convicted on lesser charges.

Defense attorneys immediately declared victory in the three-month trial that the government had described as a major component in its war on terrorism.

"This is a great day for justice," said defense attorney Michael E. Deutsch, who represented former grocer Muhammad Salah.

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.

The pair, along with Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, were charged with racketeering conspiracy for allegedly joining with 20 others since at least 1988 to conduct business for Hamas, which the government said included conspiracies to commit murder, kidnapping, passport fraud and other crimes.

Salah was accused of recruiting and training new members of Hamas in the United States. After his release from prison in Israel in 1997, authorities said he directed an associate in Chicago to scout potential targets for terrorist attacks in Israel.

Ashqar was accused of opening bank accounts in Mississippi for Hamas purposes.

Salah was convicted of obstruction of justice for giving false answers to questions he was asked in a civil lawsuit. Ashqar was convicted of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury when he had been given immunity for anything he might say.

The jury delivered the verdict amid heavy security in the courtroom after deliberating for 14 days.

"We've convicted them — it's hard to say that we're disappointed," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said.

[reel-crazy]

It's OK to train insurgent 'freedom fighters' in the USA now? Counselor Deutsch must have woke up this morning feeling a relief knowing his country was a safer place to live in the name of justice... a job well done, Mikey.. perhaps there is a job opening for a good public attorney in Baghdad coming available soon... should be plenty of cases there for you to represent successfully in the near future...

[bluestardad]

Media
Quit covering these animals in the Middle East and let them butcher themselves off camera. We have spent 50 years of time blood and money trying to civilize them to western standards and it does not work. Do they own your Job or what? For Example, If your neighbor%u2019s barn burnt down and you helped him with labor and financial aid to rebuild it and he burns it down two and three more times how may times would you rebuild his barn before you stopped and just figured he is not worth the effort anymore because he is not civilized enough to have a barn? America get out of Iraq and quit meddling in the Middle East quit selling them weapons, learn how to make Bio-Fuel or Clean-Coal Fuel and let the Middle East drink the oil, eat the sand, and slaughter each other to their hearts content! They cut the Oil off in the middle Seventies and we still have not gotten independent from Middle East Oil! Who in the American Media Leadership is forcing our media to cover this violence in the Middle East? America has paid for the entire Middle East for the last Fifty Years in Lives, Blood and Tax Money and this investment has brought us the Chaos we have today. It is time to look at Americas own problems and let these animals kill each other! The Middle East has been fighting since the Sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac were born. Americans come home and let the Middle East be Isolated! The entire Middle East is not worth one more American Life or Dollar!

[bvckvs-2009]

It's good to see that our Justice System worked in this case, since the men are clearly no threat to the US.

Still - it's a real shame that our prosecutors are going after everyone EXCEPT al Quaeda.

Now it would be really cool if the US would reduce the War against Islam into one more focused on al Quaeda.

[ralsand]

Great News, Now take them out and shoot them as enemies of the state. Many be the next group will have second thoughts.

[karlimhof]

Not many details here but terrorism charges by the government were rejected. Did they even have a case?

One of the mean was given immunity to testify but refused and then convicted for not talking!!

The other was convicted for giving false statesments to a civil court!!

Looks like federal fishing expedition but the fish weren't biting!

[legendary240]

"...to the shores of Tripoli..." America has had to deal with muslim aggression long before there was a twentieth-century Israel.

[alphaa10-2009]

This story is adequate, but missing detail. What was the key issue on which the federal case failed? The feds are veterans at this kind of thing and it is hard to believe they could stumble unless the case were too sketchy to link the two with terrorist acts. Are the feds over-reaching?

This case reminds us of the continuous effort by certain terror organizations abroad to build a support infrastructure in the US among emigre groups-- at the very moment most groups want to be regarded, and deserve to be regarded, as loyal citizens.

A similar case in Canada, documented by PBS Frontline recently as "The Cell Next Door", had a more sinister edge. Canadian security found pockets of home-grown Islamic-radical terrorism, with one of the cells ready to bomb and kidnap members of the Canadian Parliament.

This is the most difficult new area of law enforcement-- how to monitor terror connections nourished from abroad, without endanagering the rights and freedoms most of us take for granted.

[mrvolleyba11]

they bought that freedom fighters ***? Isn't that what some people would call those (freedom loving) hijackers on 9/11??? ...but what esle would you expect, after all OJ, Robert Blake, and these men are all innocent.

[legendary240]

Well it's a good day for CAIR isn't it? I don't have faith in the verdict rendered by the jury, but time will tell.