Hamas leader, 2 others accused of financing, backing terrorism

By Dan Eggen and Jerry Markon
The Washington Post

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department yesterday unsealed an indictment accusing a senior Hamas leader and two others of a 15-year racketeering conspiracy that raised millions of dollars for the militant group, which is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States for carrying out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks in Israel.

The indictment, handed up in Chicago, includes the deputy chief of Hamas' political wing, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, and a former Howard University professor, Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar of Fairfax County, Va.

Ashqar, 46, and a third defendant, Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah, 51, of suburban Chicago, were arrested Thursday night. Abu Marzook, expelled from the United States in 1997, is believed to be living in Syria, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

In Alexandria, Va., yesterday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan ordered Ashqar imprisoned without bail until federal marshals can take him to Chicago.

"The individuals named in this indictment are alleged to have played a substantial role in financing and supporting international terrorism," Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference. "They are alleged to be material supporters of a foreign terrorist organization, taking advantage of the freedoms of an open society to foster and finance acts of terror."

Much of the activity outlined in the indictment, however, happened before former President Clinton designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist group in 1995, and the three defendants have been the focus of FBI intelligence and criminal investigations for at least a decade.

Stanley Cohen, Marzook's attorney, called the charges "categorical rubbish" and said the indictment amounted to "a Republican National Committee press release."

"All of this stuff is anywhere from 10 to 15 years old. ... Everything that is in the four corners of this indictment the government has had for years," he said.

In Syria, Abu Marzook denied the accusations.
 
"This is election campaigning," he told The Associated Press in Damascus. "They (U.S. officials) want to say to the American public that they are succeeding in fighting terrorism."

The new indictment alleges that, beginning in 1988, the three men conspired with 20 others to use bank accounts in Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and other states to launder millions in support of Hamas, and that the money was used to pay for killings, fake passports, kidnappings and other crimes in Israel.

Officials said they hope to seize $2.7 million in bank accounts under the defendants' control.