Fwd: [Ppnews] Sami Al-Arian update including his grand jury refusal

Attached Message
From: ppnews@freedomarchives.org
To: Recipient list suppressed:;
Subject: [Ppnews] Sami Al-Arian update including his grand jury refusal
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 8:40 AM


From the article below: But just over two weeks ago, a judge found him in contempt for refusing a second time to testify before a grand jury in Virginia in a case involving a Muslim think tank. The date of his release could now be extended by as much as 18 months because of the ruling. Al-Arian, who is a diabetic, began a hunger strike in response.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/07/18359041.php


Hunger-Striking Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian Speaks Out In First Broadcast Interview of His Four-Year Imprisonment
by Democracy Now (reposted)
Wednesday Feb 7th, 2007 8:00 AM

In a Democracy Now exclusive, Sami Al-Arian speaks to us from prison where is on a hunger-strike. The Palestinian professor and activist was found not guilty over a year ago of 17 charges against him yet he remains in jail and the US government seems unwilling to release him. Al-Arian’s case has been one of the most closely watched – and controversial – post 9/11 prosecutions in the United States. In February 2003, he was arrested and accused of being a leader of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The jury failed to return a single guilty verdict. Four months after the verdict, he agreed to plead guilty to one of the remaining charges in exchange for being released and deported. At his sentencing, the judge gave Al-Arian as much prison time as possible under a plea deal - 57 months. In the four years since his arrest, Sami Al-Arian has never conducted a broadcast interview - until now.

Sami Al-Arian has been in prison for the past four years. The Palestinian professor and activist was found not guilty over a year ago of 17 charges against him yet he remains in jail and the US government seems unwilling to release him. Al-Arian’s case has been one of the most closely watched – and controversial – post 9/11 prosecutions in the United States. A respected computer science professor at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian was a leading member of the Muslim community and one of the most prominent Palestinian academics and activists in the US. In February 2003, he was arrested and accused of being a leader of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Justice Department handed down a sweeping 50-count indictment against him and seven other men, charging them with conspiracy to commit murder, giving material support to terrorists, extortion, perjury, and other offenses.

At the end of the trial in December 2005, the jury failed to return a single guilty verdict. Al Arian was acquitted on eight of seventeen counts against him and the jury deadlocked on the rest. Four months after the verdict, he agreed to plead guilty to one of the remaining charges in exchange for being released and deported. At his sentencing, the judge gave Al-Arian as much prison time as possible under a plea deal - 57 months. His release date was set for April 2007. ? But just over two weeks ago, a judge found him in contempt for refusing a second time to testify before a grand jury in Virginia in a case involving a Muslim think tank. The date of his release could now be extended by as much as 18 months because of the ruling. Al-Arian, who is a diabetic, began a hunger strike in response.

In the four years since his arrest, Sami Al-Arian has never conducted a broadcast interview - until now. In a Democracy Now exclusive, we spoke with Sami Al-Arian from prison. He called us yesterday from the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia. He began by describing where he was being held.

* Sami Al-Arian, speaking from prison.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1546227

Sami Al-Arian’s Daughter on Her Father’s Imprisonment
by Democracy Now (reposted) Wednesday Feb 7th, 2007 8:01 AM
Laila Al-Arian is Sami Al-Arian's eldest daughter. She joins us to talk about her father’s imprisonment and its effect on the Al-Arian family. We’re also joined by Sami Al-Arian’s attorney, Peter Erlinder.
---

At the time of his arrest in February 2003, Al-Arian was a leading member of the Muslim community in south Florida and one of the most prominent Palestinian academics and activists in the United States. In September 2001, he was invited to be a guest on “The O'Reilly Factor” under the impression he was going to be discussing Arab-American reactions to 9/11. Instead, host Bill O'Reilly spent the interview accusing him of supporting terrorism. O’Reilly concluded by saying “If I was the C.I.A., I'd follow you wherever you went.”

Beginning the next day, the University of South Florida where Al-Arian worked was barraged by hundreds of threatening letters and emails. Thirty-six hours after the interview, the University put him on paid leave. He was arrested a year and a half later.

* Sami Al-Arian, speaking from prison.

Peter Erlinder is representing Sami Al-Arian in the latest contempt charges against him. He joins me from Minneapolis where he is a professor at the William Mitchell School of Law. We’re also joined by Laila Al-Arian is Sami Al-Arian's eldest daughter. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Journalism School here in New York.

* Peter Erlinder. Attorney for Sami Al-Arian. He is a professor at the William Mitchell School of Law. Peter co-founded the Coalition to Protect Political Freedom with Al Arian in the 1990s.

* Laila Al-Arian. Sami Al-Arian's eldest daughter. She is a graduate of the Columbia University Journalism School here in New York. For more information go to http://FreeSamiAlArian.com

More
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1546235





The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org

Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org