Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar

Abelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar is a Palestinian Muslim activist who was an assistant professor of business at Howard University. He was convicted of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusal to testify before a grand jury in a trial related to the funding of Hamas by donors in the United States, and was sentenced in November 2007 to 135 months in prison.

Biography

Ashqar grew up in the West Bank town of Seida. In 1985 he began teaching business administration at the Islamic University of Gaza. He earned his PhD in 1997.

He moved to Northern Virginia in 1997. He was on the Mosque's governing committee in 1998. His weight dropped from 180 lbs to 120 lbs.

2005 candidacy for Palestinian Authority Presidency In 2005, while facing federal charges, Ashqar ran in the elections for the President of the Palestinian National Authority, running in absentia from his home in Virginia. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation described Ashqar as one of eight "long-shot" candidates in the 10 man race. Ashqar placed 4th, with 2.76% of the vote.

Arrest and charges Ashqar was arrested in 2004 on federal charges alleging that he was one of three people assisting in the recruitment and fund-raising efforts for Hamas in the United States over the course of 15 years. The arrest was regarded as part of a Bush administration effort to block funding for Hamas, which had been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization in 1995.

He is alleged to have organized meetings with Hamas activists in 1993 Philadelphia and in 1994 in Oxford, Mississippi where he was in graduate school. According to court documents, investigators discovered "a treasure trove of Hamas-related documents," at Ashqar's home, including details about recent Hamas attacks on Israeli soldiers, the minutes of confidential meetings of Hamas meetings; and a fax from Falls Church, Virginia businessman Mousa Abu Marzook, requesting that Ashqar arrange the transfer of $40,000 to a Palestinian activist.

Trial and conviction At trial, Ashqar was given immunity. Nevertheless, he refused to testify.

Release and deportation Ashqar was released from prison on June 13, 2017. He was immediately transferred into Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody. In 2003, when a judge denied his asylum application, Ashqar agreed to leave for Jordan, from where he then planned to go to the United Arab Emirates where he had a job offer from a university.

Federal officials aimed to deport Ashqar to Jordan, Israel, or the Palestinian Authority, while Ashqar argued in court that he feared he would be imprisoned and tortured in Israel, and that Jordan and the PA would hand him over to Israel. With negotiations ongoing between Ashqar and the US government, on June 4, 2019, Ashqar reported to a routine check-in at an ICE office in Fairfax, Virginia while on his way to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. ICE took him into custody and deported him to Israel. During the 11-hour flight to Tel Aviv, Judge T.S. Ellis III heard an appeal from Ashqar's attorneys and issued an order prohibiting his hand over to Israel. Ashqar and the agents accompanying him stayed in a jet for 28 hours before taking off to return to Manassas Regional Airport on June 6. Ashqar was released again on June 15.