In Chicago, a federal court has sentenced a Palestinian American activist to more than eleven years in prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury in 2003 about the activities of the Palestinian group Hamas. Abdelhaleem Ashqar defended his refusal to testify, saying that he shouldn’t have to give testimony that would aid the Israeli government. Ashqar told the court, “The only option was to become a traitor or collaborator, and that is something that I can’t do and will never do as long as I live.” Ashqar is a former associate professor of business at Howard University in Washington. Earlier this year, a jury acquitted Ashqar of being a leading member of Hamas and conspiring to support terrorism from the United States.