Alleged Hamas members found innocent on terror charges in Chicago

The trial of Mohammed Salah, a member of the radical Bridgeview Mosque, and co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar,a Virginian, was a major story in the Chicago area, particularly in my native south suburbs.

Well, the two men were found innocent of the terror related charge: money laundering for Hamas terrorists conspiring to attack the Israeli government. But they were found guilty of obstruction of justice.

Salah and Asqhar are former academics: Salah taught computer classes at Olive Harvey College in Chicago, Asqhar is a former assistant business professor from Howard University.

From 1993 until 1997, Salah was imprisoned in Israel after confessing to being a financier for Hamas--Salah claims his confession was coerced.

Michael Deutsch was the attorney for Salah. A real piece of work, this guy is.

From the Daily Southtown last fall:

The 1969 Northwestern University Law School graduate and longtime lawyer with People's Law Office has made a career of defending unpopular causes: He represented inmates behind the riots at Attica Penitentiary in New York State, and later did extensive defense work for members of of FALN, a radical Puerto Rican independence group behind a series of bombings in the 1970s.

The Salah-Asqhar defense team wanted to bring in DePaul's Jewish anti-semitic political science professor Norman Finkelstein to testify for their clients.

But that didn't happen.

I wonder if Jimmy Carter was contacted by the defense?