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The Ledger – Florida - November 8, 2003
Al-Arian's lawyer to hire psychiatrist
to evaluate his confinement
By VICKIE CHACHERE
The Associated Press
TAMPA -- The lawyer for former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian said Friday he is hiring a psychiatrist to evaluate whether Al-Arian's confinement at a federal prison is inflicting mental harm.
Lawyer William Moffitt's move comes even as a federal judge said Friday no laws have been broken and Al-Arian's rights have not been violated by his confinement in a high-security unit.
Moffitt is seeking to have Al-Arian moved from the confinement unit at Coleman federal prison, about 80 miles north of Tampa. Moffitt and Al-Arian argue that the conditions there are so oppressive it is interfering with Al-Arian's right to help defend himself on charges he helped finance terrorist attacks in Israel.
Al-Arian has complained of not having adequate access to his lawyers, not being allowed visits with his family and not having the proper tools to review documents in his case.
Recently, he has also complained that prison officials have made it difficult for him to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He also complained that he's not allowed to wear a watch, so he does not know when it is the proper time to pray.
Moffitt, the high-profile Washington lawyer who became Al-Arian's lawyer last week, said his client is being treated differently because he is Palestinian.
"We know people of Arabic extraction arrested post 9/11 are being held under these types of conditions," Moffitt said.
Federal prosecutors made no comment on Al-Arian's confinement during the Friday conference.
The Justice Department has cited security concerns for why Al-Arian is being held at the prison while he awaits trial on a 50count indictment that charges him with using an academic think tank at the University of South Florida and an Islamic charity as fronts to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas McCoun told Moffitt that Al-Arian is better off at Coleman than at some of the local jails which have contracts to hold federal prisoners.
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