“They ask about him, but what do you tell an 8- or 7-year-old?” asked Aisha Elahi, the vice principal of girls at the Muslim Al-Huda School in College Park. “They miss him. He’s their teacher.”

When students ask about their third-grade teacher, Ali Asad Chandia, “We tell them to pray for him. He’s at home with his family,” she said.

Chandia, 29, a University of Maryland University College alumnus who is now on house arrest at his College Park home, was convicted last week on three counts of conspiring and supporting a terrorist organization in Pakistan. His conviction was particularly disheartening for many in the Muslim community, who have worked toward positive understanding of Muslims despite some anxiety about extremism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al-Huda provides a large resource for local Muslims, housing a mosque and a school for about 370 students enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade, said Minhaj Hasan, a member of the school’s board of directors and a university alumnus.

And although no officials at Al-Huda school openly expressed concern over Chandia’s case bringing negative attention to the school, the implications of his conviction could cause misunderstandings and officials have been reluctant to comment publicly.

The school’s curriculum follows that of Montgomery County Public Schools, with the addition of religious and Arabic classes. But unlike public schools, class sizes at Al-Huda are smaller, so students are able to form strong bonds with their teachers, Hasan said. And despite his conviction, Chandia still keeps in touch with students and their parents.

That could change after Chandia’s sentencing Aug. 18, where he could face up to 45 years in prison for crimes related to a 2001 trip he took to Pakistan.

While in Pakistan, prosecutors say he visited the offices of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a designated terrorist organization. Prosecutors also accuse Chandia of providing Lashkar-e-Taiba with support after returning to the United States, including providing the organization with paintballs experts have said could be used for terrorist training.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to confirm whether the paintballs had been used for that purpose.

“I’ve never played paintball in my life,” Chandia said in an interview. He strongly disputes the government’s claims, saying he traveled to Pakistan to attend a wedding and that he never visited a terrorist training camp as the government has implied.

Chandia was under investigation by the FBI since at least 2003 as part of what is now known as the “Virginia jihad network.” Chandia is the 11th man convicted in the investigation, which U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement, “demonstrates our relentless commitment to bringing to justice those who provide support to terrorist organizations.”

But Marvin Miller, the Virginia lawyer who represented Chandia during his trial, said his client’s prosecution was part of a public relations campaign to justify an expensive FBI investigation that collected mostly circumstantial evidence.

“I think that the huge amount of money they spent on this case was merely to make it look good,” Miller said. “It has nothing to do with making the country safe.”

Miller added that much of the government’s case centered on reading materials taken from Chandia’s home in raids.

“[The government] spent an awful lot of time trying him for what he reads, not what he says and what he listens to and hears on tapes, not what he writes,” Miller said, referring to several volumes Chandia has penned focusing on Islamic religious thought.

Miller added that one of the books listed on Chandia’s indictment was a textbook on the history of modern warfare in the nuclear age. The book belonged to Chandia’s brother, who used it in a course at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Miller said.

In what could be one of the more problematic facts about the case, however, was Chandia’s contact with Mohammed Ajmal Khan, who has been charged in London with terrorism-related offenses, and Chandia’s connection to Ali al-Timimi, who was convicted last year as part of the Virginia jihad network investigation.

Miller acknowledged Chandia did “a lot of scheduling for” al-Timimi, but strongly disputed the government’s claims that Chandia had engaged in any illegal activity with Kahn. Miller declined to comment further about Chandia’s role in working for Timimi.

Before his investigation and arrest, Chandia was well-known in the Muslim community and in the metropolitan area, Al-Huda’s Hasan said.

“He was known as a community-oriented person,” he said. “The Muslim community is very grassroots. All of the mosques, centers and schools are all run by volunteers – people who are sacrificing their salary and putting their time into building the institution. [Chandia] was known as one of those people. He was always ready and willing to volunteer.”

Despite the lengthy prison term Chandia is likely to face, he said he is confident he will continue doing what he considers his life’s work – teaching.

“We don’t think that we are going to get what the government intends for us,” Chandia said, referring to the stiff sentence the government will ask the judge to hand down.

Someday, he plans to teach at the school in Pakistan his father is planning to build.

“I’m a teacher, and this is what I’ll do for the rest of my life.”

Contact reporter Sharahn Boykin at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.