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The Ledger - December 30, 2003
Al-Arian terror financing case puts Patriot Act to the test
By VICKIE CHACHERE
TAMPA, Fla. For nearly a decade, FBI intelligence agents had been taping the telephones and intercepting the faxes of Sami Al-Arian and keeping secret what they knew about the professor's suspected ties to Palestinian terrorists - even from their colleagues working a criminal case against the same man.
The full breadth of what the bureau knew about Al-Arian and others connected to the professor's charity, Muslim school and think tank was finally revealed in the spring of 2002.
Navarro had worked both sides of the case, first in 1995 as an intelligence agent and then later on the criminal side, carefully following the rules that banned the use of intelligence information in criminal cases.
The Patriot Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush the weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks, changed all that.
Now, nearly a year after Al-Arian and seven others are named in a 50-count racketeering indictment, the case is shaping up to be a test of the Patriot Act, the law which among its provisions granted the government greatly expanded surveillance and search powers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has used the Al-Arian case as one of the success of the Patriot Act as he toured the nation earlier this year in defense of the law.
Al-Arian, Sammeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut face trial in January 2005 on charges they used an academic think tank, a Muslim school and a charity as a cover for raising money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The legal battle lines are drawn by Al-Arian's defense team, which includes high-profile Washington attorney William B. Moffitt and Tampa attorney Linda Moreno and by Al-Arian himself, who for years has said he is being persecuted for his pro-Palestinian views. Al-Arian said the think tank he founded at the University of South Florida, his charity and his school were legitimate enterprises designed to aid Muslims and foster greater understanding between Americans and Arabs.
Moffitt has said he intends to challenge every aspect of the new law as the case heads to trial and has called the Patriot Act the product of a "frightened society," overreacting to the horrific events of Sept. 11.
"What we have done is precisely what the people who attacked us on 9/11 hoped we would do," Moffitt said shortly after being hired this fall as Al-Arian's attorney. "Even the notion it's called the Patriot Act is an interesting idea."
The debate over the use of the Patriot Act to secure an indictment against Al-Arian and the others is also being argued in other forums nationwide. Al-Arian is being held without bond at a federal prison while he awaits trial and could not be reached for comment for this report.
The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the law as unconstitutional, arguing that that it violates the Fourth Amendment, which says the government cannot conduct a search without obtaining a warrant and showing probable cause to believe that the person has committed or will commit a crime.
Other civil rights activists and those concerned about how the Patriot Act might be used to target Muslims also have honed in on the Al-Arian case.
Samina Faheem, executive director of American Muslim Voice, the Fremont, Calif., based activist group, first met Al-Arian more than two years ago and remains a critic of the government's action against him.
"He's a wonderful person, he's compassionate, he's concerned about civil rights for everybody," she said. "I don't believe the charges against him are true until the government proves it to me in open court with open evidence with a fair trial and due process," she said. "And if they do that, if they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the man is guilty, I will help them punish him." (Associated Press)
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031230/APN/312300708
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