Yesterday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was informed he will be called to testify before a third grand jury. Having passed the 5th year anniversary of his imprisonment, the government continues to hold him despite their inability to prosecute him.
After a lengthy trial in which he was not found guilty, the government is keeping him as a “material witness,” which Dr. Al-Arian’s lawyers argue is in direct contravention to an agreement they struck last April. Holding material witnesses can be an arbitrary exercise in prosecutorial power (giving them the ability to detain those they have no evidence again). He thus refuses to testify, and has engaged in hunger strikes that cost his health severely. With this announcement, he decided to go on another strike.
Dr. Al-Arian is clearly a political prisoner being punished for nothing more than the substance of his ideas and activism. His imprisonment is a sham, again showing that the American “justice” system is flawed by ethnic bias. The court’s ideological orientation values Islamophobic alarmism and anti-Palestinianism over the US Constitution (i.e. while giving money to the Israel army can be a tax write-off, giving money to Palestinian militant groups, as he was charged with, is illegal). This explains this case’s contradictions of the law’s premises of due process and fair treatment.
See his website
Help the campaign to free him
Related posts:
- Dr. Sami Al-Arian Collapses from Hunger Strike
- Hunger Strike for Dr. Sami Al-Arian
- DC Premiere: The United States’ Persecution of Dr. Sami Al-Arian
- Government Concedes, Al-Arian to be Released
- KABOBfast for Dr. Al-Arian
We interviewed Sami’s wife and Line Halvorsen, the Norwegian director who made a documentary on the case, for the January issue of NOX.
I can send a PDF of the article if anyone wants to read it.
Posted by NOX | March 4, 2008, 6:35 amAl-Arian is a Palestinian terrorist guilty of conspiracy in support of Palestinian jihadis. The USA will be a safer place when he is deported in the coming months.
A world without Palestinians would be a world without terror.
Victory to the IDF.
Victory to the State of Israel.
Posted by pat1425 | March 4, 2008, 2:18 pmPat you fucking retard..
He has been through TWO grand juries and never been found guilty. And the US won’t even allow him to leave the country.
Posted by Mohammad | March 4, 2008, 2:58 pmAl-Arian pleaded guilty to conspiracy on April 14, 2006. He is a criminal alien Palestinian terrorist.
A world without Palestinians will be a world without terror. Long live the IDF. Long live the State of Israel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_Al-Arian
Posted by pat1425 | March 4, 2008, 3:34 pmWith this announcement, he decided to go on another strike.
Hopefully, he’ll hunger strike himself to death.
And the US won’t even allow him to leave the country.
He’s a terrorist, mohammad. Why should he be allowed to leave the country? Ever? When was the last time Arabs or Iranians turned over a wanted terrorist for prosecution? Instead, they hide them and treat them as heroes. This man should never walk free again. If there is any justice in this world, that will be his fate. And every other terrorist who is fool enough to reside in the US should suffer the same.
Posted by programmer craig | March 4, 2008, 3:50 pm“When was the last time Arabs or Iranians turned over a wanted terrorist for prosecution?”
The Iranians kicked the Shah out and the US welcomed him as a hero.
You simply are not aware if you really believe that Arab governments are not happily involved in this little war on terror. Not only have I personally sat in on a trial of an American citizen turned over to America by Saudi, but an untold number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners were arrested by Arab governments.
Arab regimes have also tortured terror “suspects” for the US in a policy called “extraordinary rendition.” Read the news.
You should ask the same question of Israel. It is well-known that Jewish criminals in the US often flee to Israel because they do not extradite Israeli citizens. For instance, the JDL members suspected of assassinating Arab-American leader Alex Odeh, fled to Israel.
Posted by Will | March 4, 2008, 4:54 pmWhen can we get Hassan Nasrallah then? Why is it that Imad Mugniyah was able to travel freely around the middle east for 25 years, even though he was at the top of the FBI’s most wanted list? When can we get the hostage takers of the US Embassy in Tehran? That happened in 1979. Not a single one has been put on trial. How many of the terrorists from Lebanon in the 1980s have been turned over for prosecution?
Sorry, will. You speak nonsense. If Al Arian was released, we’d never get our hands on him again. He should die in prison, and God willing he will.
Posted by programmer craig | March 4, 2008, 5:59 pmThe only good Arab is a dead Arab.
The only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian (babies included).
A world without Arabs is a world without terror.
A world without Palestinians is a world without terror.
God Bless the State of Israel.
God Bless America.
Posted by pat1425 | March 4, 2008, 7:48 pmI think we need a better caliber of flamingly retarded and naive Zionist American idiots.
Oh, there isn’t one, you say? Damn.
Posted by safyy | March 4, 2008, 11:55 pmIt is pretty funny, though, that the ONLY people who want ANYone to die around here are PC and Pat1425 (i.e. my IQ is 1 + 4 + 2 + 5).
You can keep ranting about Palestinians and terrorists and Arabs, though. It’s really pretty sad.
I’m here representing Americans who care about what Israel has done to this country.
Can someone on KF please do a write-up on the USS Liberty so these nutjobs can start getting educated about what Zionists do to their American friends they really, really love so much? They are ruthless. They don’t care who they kill. They will kill their own people if it helps them get ahead. Do you know anything about the foreign government you are so frequently advocating for?
I’ll give you a hint: your ridiculous infatuation with a foreign country is not mutual. Your stupidity is a big zionist joke. Keep showing your overlords what a good lapdog you can be and how many scary, dirty “terrorists” (read: normal human beings who don’t want to kill anybody) you can threaten to kill.
You are not more American than me. Someday you will have to learn how to live with people who are different (smarter) than you. Or, you will keep violently ranting until you die. I don’t really care either way, but whatever. Nobody has to discredit you, you are such obvious nitwits. I only want to educate you so you can stop making fools of yourself. It’s really pathetic.
I, on the other hand, am not advocating for anyone except innocent human beings. I have never advocated the actions of any foreign government. That would be….. STUPID.
Posted by safyy | March 5, 2008, 1:11 amIt is pretty funny, though, that the ONLY people who want ANYone to die around here are
Nonsense. Everybody on teh KABOBfest team supports Palestinian terrorist groups such as Fatah, HAMAS, the PLO, Islamic Jihad, etc. They also openly support Hezbollah, which is second only to Al Qaeda in the number of Americans it has victimized (and KILLED).
How can you sleep at night, pretending you can support these groups and NOT be supporting their actions? You have blood on your hands, Safiyyah.
Can someone on KF please do a write-up on the USS Liberty
They already did a USS Liberty post a long time ago. Read the archives, why don’t you?
Posted by programmer craig | March 5, 2008, 2:47 amI think we need a better caliber of flamingly retarded and naive Zionist American idiots.
Retarded? You are the American White girl who, after seeing Muslims attack the US on 9/11, decided the best thing she could do is convert from Christianity to Islam. What the hell do you call that? Common sense?
It’s too bad Arabs and Iranians aren’t pseudo-intelligent like you are. We could just launch a bunch of cruise missiles into Mecca, Tehran, Amman and Cairo and they’d start converting to Christianity in droves!
Posted by programmer craig | March 5, 2008, 2:51 amI just think its funny that the idiots on here insist he is a terrorist when a jury of their peers twice thought otherwise. Obviously the courts are control by arab lobbyists, right craig?
Posted by Anonymous | March 5, 2008, 11:56 amHe was acquitted on eight of the 17 charges against him December 2005 after a six month trial with three co-defendants. On April 14, 2006 Al-Arian pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining eight charges against him.
…
In December of 2007, a federal judge lifted the civil contempt charge. Al-Arian is expected to be released in April of 2008.
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Posted by Roy | March 5, 2008, 12:24 pmIn December of 2007, a federal judge lifted the civil contempt charge. Al-Arian is expected to be released in April of 2008.
That’s too bad, Roy. Hopefully when we deport him, we deport him to someplace nice like El Salvador. And we arrange for him to receive a warm welcome.
Posted by programmer craig | March 5, 2008, 1:28 pmI was not a Christian when I converted to Islam. I’ve seen Christians. Christians don’t follow Jesus, as. I always thought he was a pretty cool guy whose followers don’t follow him very well.
I’m fortunate to know actual Muslims, and the contributions they have made to our world, and continue to make to our own country. If you kicked out all the Muslims in this country, there would be, among other things, an immediate health care crisis and a serious shortage of engineers.
I’m glad they’ve written on USS Liberty. I thought that might be the case. I haven’t been around here forever. It’s good to have the level or low IQ confirmed for me once again.
Oppressed people tend to act in similar, predictable ways, especially during violent circumstances when the only viable form of action is violence. Supporting one group or party or government all the time is ignorant and foolish, but, while not saying I support any group or their actions, everyone has a right to use military force against the military targets of those who use violence aggressively to oppress civilian populations. You and your little buddy Roy are so fond of mentioning the realities of war. Well, that’s one of them.
None of those groups represent or speak for Islam, but if you want to talk about Islam and moral codes, it is the American and Israeli governments that support the theory of collateral damage, not Islam, and not me.
Also, you are not allowed to superimpose my beliefs on me based on what others believe. If you want to attack me, then you have to attack me specifically, because I can neither defend nor explain another person’s beliefs, and I would not want such a responsibility.
By the way, seriously, you mentioned Fatah, which OUR OWN GOVERNMENT FUNDED, extensively. When are you going to do some out-of-place ranting about that?
Posted by safyy | March 5, 2008, 1:48 pmWhy do you tell me all these things about yourself, Safiyyah? I don’t care about your troubled past. I seriously don’t. I’m a bit concerned that you’ve doomed yourself to an even more troubled future, but it’s your life.
Posted by programmer craig | March 5, 2008, 2:00 pm