Al-Arian Indicted for Refusal To Testify in Muslim Charities Cases: “a perury trap”
comment by Jerry Gordon
Got him! Sami al-Arian, who had finished his 57 months term in a federal pen, has been indicted by the U.S. Eastern District Court of Virginia in Alexandria. I listened fascinated, during a Victory Coalition conference call while Michael Fechter of the Investigative Project on Terrorism explained how this was accomplished on an expedited basis after a nearly six-year grand jury investigation.
According to the IPT news report on this latest development, Arian had written letters in the 1990’s indicating the linkage between a Palestinian Islamic Jihad front group and ‘think tank’ located in Herndon, Virginia, the International Institute on Islamic Thought. The IPT report had this comment from Al-Arian’s counsel on this new indictment:
His attorney, George Washington University law professor Jonathon Turley, issued a statement on his web site saying Al-Arian has told authorities all he knows in two sworn statements:
“Dr. Al-Arian has addressed every document cited by the government as the reason for his being called before the grand jury. He has shown that he has no incriminating information to offer against either IIIT or its officers. This indictment proves that the government was never interested in any information that Dr. Al-Arian has on the IIIT matter. This was a classic perjury trap used repeatedly by the government to punish those individuals who could not be convicted before an American jury.”
Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor had been an active leader in the U.S. for Palestinian Islamic Jihad an officially designated foreign terrorist organization and had raised funds for it here in the US. He was originally sentenced on a guilty plea verdict in a long trial in the Tampa Federal District Court to 57 months and deportation, thereafter after serving his sentence. Al Arian had lost two U.S. Appeals court bids to remain silent on the new investigation that lead to his indictment on Wednesday by the Virginia Federal court.
Note this from the New York Sun report: According to court records, the grand juries were investigating a Herndon, Va.-based Muslim research group, the International Institute of Islamic Thought. In the early 1990s, that group provided at least $50,000 in funding to a Tampa, Fla.-based group founded by Al-Arian, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise.
We had posted on Al-Arian’s hunger strike last year and the CAIR comments demanding his release, before this new federal indictment was handed down. We noted:
This is ultimate chutzpah, CAIR and American Muslim Alliance pleading for the release of convicted terrorist former University of South Florida Professor Sami Al Arian. They want him freed on grounds that he is being muzzled because of his pro-Palestinian terrorist views and ‘overzealous prosecution’. Really. That’s a bit much. But what can you expect of unindicted co-conspirator in the Federal Holy Land Foundation trial. Al Arian plead guilty “conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” After he serves a term in a federal prison he will be extradited, just like “Mazen al-Najjar, his brother-in-law and a PIJ board member, was arrested and deported to Lebanon in 2002 because of his ties to terrorism.”
Al Arian is on a hunger strike “despite a grant of immunity by federal prosecutors to force him to testify before a grand jury investigating the Virginia based International Institute of Islamic Thought [IIIT], a suspected terror funding operation which has been under investigation for at least 6 years.” The IIIT was one of al Arian’s sources for terror financing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
For his criminal contempt in the new matter, Al-Arian could be sentenced to 18 months and possible as much as a term of life in prison or death. Somehow, the latter prod could be used to make him testify, before he testifies, is sentenced and then finally deported.
by Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, June 27, 2008
A Palestinian Arab activist and former college professor who has been locked in a long-running legal battle with federal prosecutors, Sami Al-Arian, was indicted yesterday on two counts of criminal contempt for refusing to testify before grand juries investigating Islamic charities based in Virginia and elsewhere.
Al-Arian, 50, has argued that he could not be required to testify in the probes under the terms of his guilty plea in 2006 to a charge of providing assistance to a terrorist organization. The plea resolved the stalemate that followed a six-month-long criminal trial in Florida in 2005 stemming from allegations that he acted as Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s chief representative in America. A jury acquitted Al-Arian on some charges, but could not reach a verdict on others
Two federal appeals courts rejected Al-Arian’s claims that his plea absolved him from having to testify in the investigations being pursued from Alexandria, Va. Al-Arian, who has been in jail since he was indicted in the Florida case in 2003, was scheduled to be released and deported last year, but a judge extended Al-Arian’s sentence while he was in civil contempt for refusing to testify.
Al-Arian, a former computer science professor at the University of South Florida, went on a 57-day hunger strike last year to protest his treatment.
In an interview last night, one of Al-Arian’s daughters said prosecutors are intent on keeping Al-Arian in prison, despite the muddled jury verdict two years ago.
“Their loss in his trial was such a high-profile blow to them. It seems like sour grapes,” Laila Al-Arian said. “They’re just trying to abuse the law.”
Under federal law, Al-Arian could not be jailed for more than 18 months for civil contempt. However, the law sets no particular prison sentence for criminal contempt. In theory, if convicted, Al-Arian could be jailed for life or receive the death penalty.
According to court records, the grand juries were investigating a Herndon, Va.-based Muslim research group, the International Institute of Islamic Thought. In the early 1990s, that group provided at least $50,000 in funding to a Tampa, Fla.-based group founded by Al-Arian, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise.
The indictment was handed up yesterday, but notations in court files suggest it was prepared in April, at about the time the Kuwaiti-born Al-Arian finished serving his criminal sentence and was transferred into immigration custody to await deportation.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:02 • opinion • news • Sami Al Arian • new federal indictment • New York Sun report • 0 Comments •
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