December 21, 2006
By Chris Hack Staff writer
Lawyers for Mohammed Salah's co-defendant declined Wednesday to call their own witnesses in the long-running terrorism trial, angrily complaining they were blindsided by federal prosecutors.
Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a former university professor from Virginia, faces racketeering charges along with Salah, alleging they supported the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
Salah, of Bridgeview, is accused of delivering money to Hamas military leaders in the Occupied Territories in 1993 and later lying about it in sworn statements in a civil lawsuit.
Ashqar is accused of serving as a communications link between Hamas leaders in the United States and abroad.
In opening statements, his defense attorneys insisted Ashqar simply was exercising his First Amendment right by tracking political events in his native Palestine and said they'd present evidence showing he was punished with criminal charges for refusing to become a government informant against Hamas.
Defense attorneys had intended to call to the witness stand at least one federal official to testify about the plan to turn Ashqar into an informant, but they were thwarted by a surprise: Prosecutors turned over newly found documents further detailing Ashqar's alleged Hamas links.
"We had no idea there was a far more extensive set of documents out there," Ashqar defense attorney William Moffitt said. "There was never any reason to believe these documents ever existed."
Although U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve ruled the new documents were turned over too late to be admitted as evidence against Ashqar, defense attorneys were worried the witnesses they wanted to call might testify about the contents of the documents. They said the last-minute development torpedoed their plans of presenting a defense in the case.
"We believe that we were misled," Moffitt told the judge as he turned to look at the trio of federal prosecutors handling the case. "The only mistake we made was trusting the integrity of the process -- and it appears the process had very little integrity."
St. Eve said she didn't believe the belated turnover of the documents by prosecutors was intentional because the material would have helped their case. But she did bar prosecutors from mentioning in closing arguments that defense attorneys had reneged on their pledge to explore the Ashqar-informant angle of the case.
Jurors were sent home Wednesday without hearing testimony, and they were told to return Jan. 3. Salah's defense team, which already has called several witnesses, is expected to call at least one more, with closing arguments in the trial expected Jan. 8.
Chris Hack may be reached at
chack@dailysouthtown.com
or (708) 633-5984.