(IPT) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been unusually silent about the attempt to deport Hamas-linked activist Abdelhaleem al-Ashqar.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents placed Ashqar, 60, on an airplane to Israel last week, but he was able to return to the United States after a federal judge said Ashqar could only be sent to Jordan.
Ashqar was sentenced in 2007 to 11 years in prison for obstruction of justice and criminal contempt after he refused to provide immunized grand jury testimony about his knowledge of Hamas activities. He played a leadership role in a Hamas-support network in the United States known as the “Palestine Committee.”
Ashqar helped organize a 1993 Palestine Committee meeting in Philadelphia that gave rise to CAIR’s founding.
