CHICAGO — A former business 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 grand jury.
Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 49, a former associate professor at Washington’s Howard University, was convicted this year of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify in 2003 before a federal grand jury investigating the Palestinian militant movement Hamas.
Prosecutors had granted him immunity.
He and a co-defendant were acquitted of taking part in a conspiracy aimed at bankrolling Hamas in its violent attacks on Israel.
In a passionate, arm-waving statement before sentencing, Ashqar said his only other 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.”
