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On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans in an operation that marked the second major attack by violent jihadists against the World Trade Center. There wasn’t much mystery about who had carried out these atrocities — unless you were Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Marayati warned Americans not to conclude that the suicide hijacking attacks were the work of Muslim terrorists. “If we are going to look at suspects,” he told a Los Angeles radio station, “we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I...

SNIPPET: "Federal law enforcement officials call it a front for Hamas terrorists which "has been under numerous investigations for financing and [providing] aid and comfort to bad orgs and members." SNIPPET: "In gearing up for the 2010 Census, the General Services Administration (GSA) leased office space throughout the country. One location is a 6,654 square foot section of a two-story building on Edsall Road in Alexandria, Va. owned by the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque. The United States government is spending $582,000, or about $23,000 per month, to lease the space from November 2008 through the end of this year. SNIPPET: "The...

MAS' Esam Omeish Seeks Virginia Office Campaign Mum on MAS Ties, Radical Omeish Speeches IPT News May 1, 2009 The last time the public got a good look at Esam Omeish, he was resigning from a Virginia immigration panel, claiming that the posting of videos showing him praising Palestinians who chose "the jihad way" to liberate their land was part of a smear campaign against him. Now Omeish is diving into the deep end of smear campaigns, offering himself as a candidate for a partisan legislative seat in Northern Virginia. Omeish is among four Democrats vying to win their party's...

A former business professor accused of taking part in a Palestinian terrorist network was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in prison for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. The defendant, Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 49, a former associate professor of business at Howard University in Washington, was taken into custody by federal marshals immediately after the sentencing. In a passionate, arm-waving statement before sentencing, Dr. Ashqar painted a grim picture of the suffering of Palestinians in the occupied territories and said that some of his own relatives had been killed or jailed. He said he would rather go...

Testimony in the trial of Chicago resident Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar of Northern Virginia, continued yesterday. FBI Agents gave testimony focusing on items found in Ashqar's home during a search of his Oxford Mississippi residence on December 26, 1993, in addition to wiretaps of his phone and fax lines. Special Agent Bradley Benabidez testified that the FBI acquired over 2400 hours of audio during the year that they maintained a wiretap. Benabidez further described the December 1993 search of Ashqar’s home where a team of agents from the FBI photographed over 1600 documents. A few of those documents which...

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

Abdelhaleem Ashqar is facing trial in Chicago, accused of funding terrorists, and is under house arrest in Virginia. But he said Thursday that won't keep him from seeking to replace Yasser Arafat as the next Palestinian leader. Proclaiming that he detests bloodshed, Ashqar said he will run in the Jan. 9 Palestinian election as an independent and was able to collect 7,000 to 8,000 election petition signatures in less than 36 hours from his district of Putulkarm, in the northern part of the West Bank. Under house arrest at his home in Alexandria, Va., the former Howard University professor said...

The US authorities have arrested two alleged members of Palestinian militant group Hamas on racketeering and terrorism charges. Officials said Muhammed Hamid Khalil Salah and Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar were arrested on Thursday in Chicago and in northern Virginia. A warrant was also issued for an alleged senior Hamas leader in Syria. The US attorney general said the trio "allegedly ran a US-based terrorist and financing cell" associated with Hamas. They "were indicted for their roles in a 15-year racketing conspiracy in the US and abroad", said US Attorney General John Ashcroft, quoted by the Associated Press. "The cell allegedly...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Two suspected members of Hamas have been arrested in the United States and charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organization, money laundering and racketeering, US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced. The authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect facing the same charges, identified as the deputy chief of the political bureau of Hamas, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, who currently resides in Syria. Ashcroft said the trio allegedly ran a US-based terrorist recruiting and financing cell linked with Hamas, a Palestinian militant group which has publicly admitted to many killings, primarily of Israelis but also...

In fundraising probe, Palestinian activist may face more charges: Federal prosecutors indicated Monday new charges might soon be filed related to a long-running Chicago grand jury probe of fundraising for the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The disclosure came during a court hearing for Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, a Palestinian activist from Virginia facing federal charges for refusing to testify before the grand jury despite a grant of immunity. The grand jury wanted to question Ashqar about his relationship with Hamas and its members. Ashqar was initially indicted last year on one count of criminal contempt, and a new indictment handed...

Defense attorneys plan to argue Palestinian activist suffers from mental disease or defect BY MELANIE COFFEE Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) -- Attorneys for a Palestinian activist jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the militant group Hamas said Wednesday they intend to argue the man suffers from a mental disease or defect. Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar of Alexandria, Va., was indicted on charges of criminal contempt after he refused to testify before a grand jury investigating fund-raising activities on behalf of Hamas. Prosecutors have said that among other things they want to talk to Ashqar about...

Palestinian Activist Ends Jail Hunger Strike, Released on BondBy Mike Robinson Associated Press WriterPublished: Nov 3, 2003 CHICAGO (AP) - A Palestinian activist jailed for refusing to testify about the militant group Hamas was freed Monday on $874,500 bond after a two-month hunger strike. "I thank God and my community and my attorneys, but I should not have been in jail in the first place," Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar told reporters. The former Howard University business professor said his weight had dropped from 180 pounds to 145 pounds during the hunger strike. He was fed intravenously by court order and...

A Palestinian activist and former college professor who has been in federal custody in Chicago since September has been indicted on a single criminal contempt charge for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating the terrorist group Hamas. Federal prosecutors in Chicago announced the indictment Friday against Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, the same day U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Chicago FBI Agent-in-Charge Tom Kneir paid a visit to the heavily Palestinian Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview. Ashqar, 45, a Palestinian native and former adjunct business professor at Howard University, had been granted immunity from prosecution for his testimony by U.S....