Please Plagiarize This Letter. Seriously.

(no really, it's better than the last one.) use whatever you want, just please write or fax something to:

Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
Fax: (703) 299-3339

RE: The Unjust Imprisonment of Dr. Sami Al-Arian

Your Honor,

I am writing to request that you restore some degree of integrity to the justice system of our country by releasing Dr. Sami Al-Arian in this month of April 2008. The plea agreement that was agreed to by both Dr. Al-Arian and the US Government in April of 2006 stipulated his release and expedited deportation on 11 April 2008. As you can see, this date has passed.

Dr. Al-Arian's case has made me lose a great deal of faith in the justice system of our country. It used to be the one branch of government that I was taught to believe was governed by principles. It turns out that this same justice system is willing to keep a man in prison for two and a half years after a jury of his peers failed to convict him of a single charge. It also kept him in prison, most of that time in cruel solitary confinement in a maximum security facility, before he was ever brought to trial. He was the lone pretrial detainee in that facility.

This is not the justice system that I grew up respecting. This is nothing more than a racially motivated abuse of justice for political ends.

Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have abused the grand jury process to keep Dr. Al-Arian detained more than a year beyond his original sentence. They continue to threaten further action with this latest court order seeking his testimony. This must not be permitted.

The plea agreement removed all standard language that would allow the government to pursue cooperation. Florida prosecutors have admitted, on the record, Dr. Al-Arian explicitly requested non-cooperation, and that they agreed to his request.

Dr. Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike since the 3rd of March. For the first 18 days, he abstained from both food and water. Since then, he has only taken water. He has lost 35 pounds and his life is in danger. His release is therefore requested not only on legal grounds, but humanitarian grounds as well.

The case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian has drawn international attention, and has dealt a severe blow to the United States of America’s domestic human rights record. Dr. Al-Arian is the most prominent political prisoner in the United States, and the only one currently on hunger strike. His release may restore some level of respect for our institutions in the world view, as well as at home. Only with the expedited release of Dr. Al-Arian can some measure of integrity be restored to our justice system.