Terror Ties Shock Ex-District Officials

He was a well-dressed, soft-spoken man who was devoted to his large family and seemed knowledgeable about ways to repair Washington's broken down public schools.

Kifah W. Jayyousi's chief problem as a D.C. school official appeared to be a reckless determination to get the job done, those who knew him said. He lasted less than two years before he was booted out, but no one suspected that the mild-mannered naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan might be associated with terrorists.

On Thursday, a federal jury in Miami convicted the former chief of facilities for D.C. public schools of conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim overseas; conspiring to provide material support for terrorists; and providing that support.

He was convicted along with former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, whom the government has accused of plotting a radiological dirty bomb attack, and a Lebanese-born Palestinian, Adham Hassoun.

Prosecutors accused Jayyousi of participating in a support cell with Padilla. Jayyousi, they said, promoted jihad as a religious obligation through a newsletter called the Islam Report. The newsletter also delivered updates on mujaheddin fighters and solicited donations, prosecutors alleged.

As part of the murder conspiracy, according to prosecutors, Jayyousi helped arrange to send fighters to conflicts involving Muslims around the world.

In one transcript of a wiretapped call cited by prosecutors, Jayyousi asks a codefendant in the conspiracy to look for an "opportunity for us to come and visit . . . for Chechnya." Jayyousi was also portrayed via a wiretapped phone conversation as praising Osama bin Laden.

Yesterday, people who knew Jayyousi in Washington in the late 1990s and early 2000s said they never suspected him of terrorist, militant or extremist leanings.

"He's what a girl would call 'sweet,' " said Peggy Cooper Cafritz, former D.C. school board president.

"I was shocked," she said, recalling Jayyousi's arrest in March 2005. "I'm not often shocked by people in the school system. . . . I consider myself to be a pretty good observer of human character.

"He always seemed quite professional, in terms of suit and tie, the whole bit," she said. "I never saw or observed anything about an extremist or religious fervor seeping through in his conversation."

Former D.C. Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7) told The Washington Post at the time of Jayyousi's arrest: "He played things close to the vest. But I could never fathom he'd have this kind of clandestine activity going on while he was managing the school facilities."