By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Former neighbors of an Alexandria man arrested this week and indicted on charges
of racketeering to fund terrorist activists in Israel said the man had been
vocal about his opposition to U.S. policies in the Middle East during the five
years he lived next door.

Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, a former business administration
professor at Howard University, was one of three suspected members of the
Palestinian militant group Hamas who were indicted Thursday in U.S. District
Court in Chicago.

At the time that he was taken into custody Thursday night, Mr. Ashqar had
been under house arrest since an indictment for criminal contempt. He had
refused to testify about terrorist funding before a grand jury last year in
Chicago, even though he had been granted immunity. Mr. Ashqar was in federal
court in Alexandria yesterday for a detention hearing. A U.S. magistrate
ordered him held pending his transfer to face the latest charges in Chicago
after a prosecutor said Hamas officials might help him flee the country. Mr.
Ashqar also was jailed for six months in 1998 for refusing to cooperate with a
New York grand jury investigating terrorist financing. John and Nubia Thornton
said they had lived next door to Mr. Ashqar and his wife, Asmaa, in the 6100
block of Old Brentford Court for five years until the couple moved out this
summer. Mr. Thornton, who is retired from the military, and Mrs. Thornton, an
accountant, described the couple as quiet, reliable neighbors. Both said they
were surprised by Thursday's arrests and had not suspected that Mr. Ashqar had
possible terrorist ties. "He didn't have a reason to tell us that," said Mr.
Thornton, 58, adding that he believed the charges likely stemmed from a "slight
incident that's been blown out of proportion." "I just can't believe it. I feel
so sad for them," said Mrs. Thornton, 49. "They were the best neighbors you
could ask for." Mrs. Thornton recalled once seeing the Ashqars load
hand-painted signs into their car for a political rally in the District. She
said Mr. Ashqar took positions critical of U.S. policies in the Middle East,
but she said she thought it was just idle criticism. Mrs. Thornton said that
after September 11 she and her husband visited the Ashqars to offer their
support should the couple face any anti-Muslim bias in the neighborhood.

At the Ashqars' current address in the 5800 block of Apsley House Court in
Alexandria's Wellington Commons neighborhood, residents were largely unaware of
the arrest and had little but a passing knowledge of the Ashqars. Dick
Schimkus, 73, said another neighbor told him yesterday morning about witnessing
federal authorities taking Mr. Ashqar into custody. Mr. Schimkus, the president
of the Wellington Commons Association, said the Ashqars moved into the
neighborhood about a month ago and he had spoken with Mr. Ashqar just two or
three days ago. "I was kind of surprised that they arrested him," Mr. Schimkus
said. He said Mr. Ashqar presented himself as a professor of business who
taught at Howard University and Strayer University in Loudoun County. He said
Mrs. Ashqar taught English to elementary school students at a nearby Islamic
school. Mr. Schimkus said Mr. Ashqar told him he had come into the country in
1989 on a scholarship to attend graduate school at the University of
Mississippi. He was awarded his doctorate in business administration in 1997.

That account jibes with a biography Mr. Ashqar outlined in a lengthy
affidavit last year explaining his refusal to testify before a federal grand
jury in Chicago. "I will not be examined about the Palestinian movement for
justice, independence and statehood," Mr. Ashqar said in one portion of the
affidavit. "I will not allow the enemies of my people, whether it be Israel, or
in this case, its surrogates here to use me against my people." Mr. Ashqar says
in the affidavit that his visa expired in 1998, and he applied for asylum to
remain in the United States, fearing retribution for his pro-Palestinian
viewpoints if he returned to Israel. His immigration status remained unresolved
and in the meantime he taught business administration at Towson University and
then the University of the District of Columbia in 1999 and 2000. He was a
professor at Howard University for three years, until June 2003 when the
university did not renew his contract. He attributed his layoff to publicity
surrounding accusations made against him by the government. Mr. Ashqar withdrew
his petition for asylum in 2002 because he feared he would be required to
testify at the hearing. He was then subpoenaed to testify before the federal
grand jury in Chicago and required to stay in the country until that matter
could be resolved.