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American Muslim Voice welcomes Al-Arian verdict
December 6, 2005: The American Muslim Voice (AMV) today welcomed the verdict in Dr. Sami Al-Arian case as a victory for free speech and American judiciary.
The AMV Executive Director, Samina Faheem Sundas said that this case showed us how great is the American justice system.
The AMV statement said:
It is commendable that the jury was objective in its decision without being swayed by a negative political environment about the Al Arian case. The verdict also restores our faith in the American justice system.
We hope that the administration will not retry Dr. Al Arian for the charges on which the jury was hung.
We congratulate Mr. Al-Arian and his family for enduring this painful ordeal.
Tampa Bay Tribune – Dec. 7, 2005
Muslims express pride in justice system
By CHRIS ECHEGARAY
TAMPA - They were skeptical of the judicial system, in agony over the drawn-out trial of a friend and teacher. Sami Al-Arian's verdict, they said, would be about more than him. It would be a reflection of U.S. views on Muslims and Middle Easterners.
So Tuesday, when Al-Arian was acquitted of eight of 17 counts against him and no verdict reached on the rest, it wasn't just the former professor's victory. E-mail crisscrossed the nation, the subject lines virtually shouting "Mubarak, Mubarak," which means congratulations in Arabic.
They had been vindicated despite it all: the backlash from Sept. 11, the government's pro-Israel stance and widespread anti-Muslim sentiment.
"Muslims can walk with their heads held high," said Pilar Saad, a friend of the Al-Arian family. "It was a resounding victory for Dr. Al-Arian, the defendants, the Muslim community and Muslims in America."
The case drew national attention as a Muslim university professor went on trial for charges of supporting terrorism. Some watching from elsewhere saw it as the best of America on display.
Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, said it demonstrated the "Martin Luther King America" that embraces fairness for all over the "McCarthy America" of suspicion and finger-pointing.
"That's the beauty of this country from our perspective," he said. "We have more faith in the people of America than in the government in these trying times.
"This is the real America."
In Temple Terrace, Abdulhafiz Atiyeh, 31, smiled as he delivered tea and hookah pipes at his Al-Aqsa coffee house on 56th Street. Through the six-month trial, Atiyeh maintained that it was a discriminatory attack against Al-Arian and, by extension, Muslims.
Atiyeh said the verdict moves Muslims closer to elusive goals.
"There are two things: Everybody wants peace and justice," Atiyeh said. "That's why I love this country. People are equal in this system. From the garbage man to a rich person. It's not one person deciding."
Naveed Kamal and Ambareen Ameenuddin, both 21 and seniors at the University of South Florida, sat at the coffee house preparing for final exams.
The students, members of the Muslim Student Association, knew what had happened just minutes after the partial verdict…..
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB8QLA4XGE.html
Washington Post - December 14, 2005
Professor won court case but not his freedom
By Peter Whoriskey
TAMPA, Dec. 13 -- The family and friends of former college professor Sami al-Arian greeted his acquittal on terrorism charges last week with exclamations of "Allahu akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- and "God bless America." It was, they said, a political and moral victory.
But in the week since those moments of euphoria, it has become increasingly clear to his supporters that his legal triumph was not necessarily a personal one.
Al-Arian, who was arrested more than two years ago, is still jailed as federal prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the counts on which the jury deadlocked. Even if prosecutors drop the outstanding charges, immigration authorities have indicated that he will probably remain incarcerated while he is facing deportation proceedings.
Outside the federal courthouse in Tampa on Tuesday, a civil rights group conducted a small protest and waved signs that said "Let Sami Out" and "The Jury Has Spoken."
"The anxiety is still there," al-Arian's wife, Nahla, said earlier near their home close to the University of South Florida, where al-Arian was a well-liked professor of computer science. The couple has five children. "I feel anxious. I feel tired. I want my husband back with us."
Al-Arian's case was considered a critical test of government tactics under the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law that expanded law enforcement's power to conduct surveillance. He and three co-defendants faced charges that they conspired with leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- which the United States has designated as a terrorist group -- to provide the group money and advice.
The accusations were based on 20,000 hours of phone conversations and hundreds of faxes secretly monitored beginning in 1993.
But jurors said afterward that the evidence, though voluminous, did not clearly link al-Arian to acts of violence. They apparently embraced the defense contention that though al-Arian may have been sympathetic to terrorist groups, he did not provide them material aid for terrorism.
Al-Arian, 47, was found not guilty on eight of 17 counts, including conspiracy to maim or murder. Some jurors said later that on most of the charges on which they deadlocked, a large majority favored acquittal, according to local news reports.
While the case has drawn national attention as a potential harbinger of terrorism prosecutions to come, it has stirred greater controversy locally at many levels -- raising fears about a school, provoking criticism of the Tampa Tribune's coverage of terrorist connections, opening a debate over academic freedom at the University of South Florida, and becoming a central issue in the 2004 U.S. Senate race won by Republican Mel Martinez over Betty Castor, the Democrat who was the president of the university in the 1990s when it suspended but did not fire al-Arian.
Aside from his work as a Palestinian activist, al-Arian was the founder of a mosque and a 250-student school here, which has struggled because prosecutors said it was a front for al-Arian's efforts to aid terrorist groups.
Steve Cole, a spokesman at the U.S. attorney's office in Tampa, said prosecutors have not decided whether to retry al-Arian on the deadlocked charges. If they do, that could mean years more behind bars.
Once the legal proceedings are completed, al-Arian "most likely will be put into removal proceedings" for deportation, said Pam McCullough, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman. She declined to say what the grounds are for deporting al-Arian….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301697.html
St. Petersburg Times – December 14, 2005
Supporters: Let Al-Arian out
Kevin Graham
TAMPA - Upset that Sami Al-Arian remained in federal prison after a jury last week couldn't convict him on terrorism-related charges, civil rights activists and family friends called on President Bush to step in.
"I think you owe one to Dr. Sami," Pilar Saad, an Al-Arian family spokeswoman, said to Bush in front of microphones and television cameras.
The former University of South Florida professor mobilized Muslims across the state to vote for Bush, she said, and now it's time for the president to return the favor.
More than 30 people, including Al-Arian's wife, Nahla, and daughter Leena, gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa on Tuesday to demonstrate. They called on the U.S. government to respect jurors' verdicts and not retry Al-Arian and one co-defendant on deadlocked charges or try to deport Al-Arian.
Saad said he has earned the right to be a U.S. citizen - a status federal officials have denied him. He's encouraged fellow Muslims to be patriotic and participate in democracy, she said.
Until federal prosecutors decide their next step, Al-Arian should be released, said members of the Friends of Human Rights group, which organized the gathering.
"Pull back those bars and let those men go home to their families," said Warren Clark, pastor of First United Church (UCC) of Tampa. "It has been long enough, and they have suffered already."
Sameeh Hammoudeh, one of Al-Arian's three co-defendants, remained in prison after jurors acquitted him and Ghassan Zayed Ballut of all charges. Hammoudeh has been in jail since 2003.
Because of a plea agreement in June, Hammoudeh and his wife will soon be deported back to Ramallah, Palestine. The couple was convicted on federal tax, immigration and mortgage fraud charges.
Al-Arian, Ballut, Fariz and Hammoudeh were on trial for six months, accused of financing and promoting Middle East terrorism. Al-Arian was acquitted on eight of 17 charges, and Fariz was acquitted on 25 of 33 charges.
One remaining charge against Al-Arian and Fariz, a racketeering conspiracy charge, carries a potential life sentence.
Ahmed Bedier, local director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said jurors sent a message with their verdicts. "The jury has assured he is not a threat to society," Bedier said. "He should be released right away."
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/14/Tampabay/Supporters__Let_Al_Ar.shtml
Tampa Tribune – December 13, 2005
Supporters rally for Al-Arian's release
Elaine Silvestrini
TAMPA - About two dozen supporters of Sami Al-Arian rallied for his release Tuesday, and urged federal authorities not to re-try the former college professor on terrorism-related charges.
A jury last week acquitted Al-Arian on eight criminal charges and deadlocked on nine others. The Justice Department is considering trying Al-Arian again on the charges on which the jury deadlocked. Authorities may also deport Al- Arian, a Palestinian born in Kuwait.
In the meantime, Al-Arian is being detained without bail. His attorney, William Moffitt, said Tuesday he plans to file a motion soon seeking his release.
Al-Arian's wife, Nahla, and daughter, Leena, did not speak, but were among the demonstrators who gathered Tuesday afternoon outside the federal courthouse. The protesters waved signs reading, "The Jury Has Spoken. No New Trial," "Let Sami Out," and ``Respect the Jury. Release Al-Arian."
The Rev. Warren Clark told the gathering, ``We say, release Dr. Sami Al-Arian from jail." He urged the federal officials not to seek another trial or deport Al-Arian.
"Don't put our community and these families through any more suffering," he said. "Don't waste any more of our tax money on this ... Spend the money where it is needed."
Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, said the jury's decision ``sends a positive message about the greatness of America and the greatness of the American judicial system."
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBI2TIL6HE.html
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