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TechnoratiAl-Arian Case: 'When You Have To Leave America To Be Free'
WASHINGTON - Nearly three years after the U.S. government failed to convict Palestinian activist and former college professor Sami Al-Arian of any charges in one of the most high-profile terrorism trials following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he continues to be held in federal prison -- where, if convicted in an upcoming trial on criminal contempt charges, he faces the prospect of remaining for decades.
Al-Arian has been imprisoned since Feb. 20, 2003, after then-attorney general John Ashcroft declared in a press conference that he and four others were in league with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, "one of the most violent terrorist organisations in the world."
According to the U.S. government, Al-Arian operated several front groups for the Damascus-based terrorist group during the 1990s, raising money to finance suicide bombings that killed more than 100 Israelis. At his trial, prosecutors played graphic videos of suicide bombings and invited Israeli citizens to testify about their experiences surviving terrorist attacks -- attacks the government suggested were the end result of Al-Arian's actions.
Prosecutors also showed jurors a 1991 video of a rally where Al-Arian can be seen shouting, "death to Israel and victory to Islam" in Arabic. Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida, maintains that he has never condoned violence against civilians, but that he does support the right to resist a "brutal military occupation" of Palestinian lands.
Indeed, even the prosecution conceded that -- after more than 10 years of tapping the phone conversations of Al-Arian and his family -- there was no evidence directly tying him to a single terrorist attack. As a result, in 2005 a Florida jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight charges and remained deadlocked on another nine, with two-thirds of the jury voting for acquittal on all charges.
Yet despite the lack of a single conviction, Al-Arian remains in prison -- where supporters say he has often been held in solitary confinement and denied access to his family and legal counsel -- for refusing to testify in a trial against a northern Virginia Islamic think tank.
"We don't even know one day where he'll be the next, and we don't know how we'll be able to visit him," said Al-Arian's son, Abdullah, at a recent event here in Washington aimed at raising awareness of the case. "We just want this ordeal to be over."
But if federal prosecutors have their way, Al-Arian's ordeal will not be over anytime soon. After accepting a plea bargain in 2006, where he pled guilty to providing some assistance to friends and family "associated" with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- such as trying to help his brother-in-law, Mazzen Al-Najjar, obtain a visa -- Al-Arian was supposed to be deported to Egypt last year.
However, federal prosecutors -- namely, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, who critics say has a long record of bigotry toward Arabs and Muslims -- have sought to force Al-Arian to testify in a case against the International Institute of Islamic Thought, which is accused of financing terrorist organisations. Al-Arian has refused to testify out of fear that prosecutors are simply seeking to trap him into committing perjury.
"If he does testify, no matter what he says, the prosecutor will charge him with perjury -- he's made that pretty clear to us," said Abdullah. "If he does not testify, he can be charged with contempt, and that was the road that my father chose, one that was more principled I think in terms of his taking a stand against the government's abuse of power."
Because of his refusal to testify, Al-Arian is now set for an Aug. 13 trial for criminal contempt. However his lawyer, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, says he has been barred from meeting with his client and is seeking to have the trial delayed and Al-Arian released.
In a motion filed Aug. 1, Turley -- who is also seeking to take the case to the Supreme Court -- argues that Al-Arian is being illegally detained by authorities in contravention of a Jul. 10 court decision, finding that he posed no flight risk or threat to his community and should be granted bail. "Put simply, Dr. Al-Arian is being held unconstitutionally," Turley states in the motion.
Al-Arian's supporters also maintain that he is a victim of a federal prosecutor -- Kromberg. During a 2005 trial, Kromberg told jurors that the defendant in the case -- Ali Al-Timimi, a devout Muslim -- could not be trusted, as his religion required him to lie to non-believers.
And according to Al-Arian's attorneys, Kromberg told them in a 2006 meeting that he would not grant Al-Arian's request that he not be forced to testify before a grand jury during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan.
"If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury; all they can't do is eat before sunset," Kromberg is quoted as telling Al- Arian's legal counsel. "I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian's grand jury appearance to assist in what is becoming the Islamisation of America."
Critics say Kromberg's comments -- and his unabashed support for the state of Israel -- show that his targeting of Al-Arian is based on politics, not terrorism.
"He's been singled out because he's been an effective, courageous man," said Mike Gravel, a former U.S. Senator from Alaska, at the event with Al-Arian's family. Like other supporters, Gravel believes Al-Arian is the victim of a politicised Justice Department eager to silence a controversial and outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In an interview with IPS, Gravel said he was "absolutely outraged over the injustice" of the government's treatment of Al-Arian. He also singled out as "gutless" members of Congress -- such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont -- who have refused to take any action on Al-Arian's behalf.
Since Democrats took over control of Congress, Leahy's committee has held hearings on everything from polygamy to the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, but none regarding Al-Arian.
An aide to Leahy told IPS that his office continues to receive calls from Al- Arian's supporters, but offered no comment on what -- if any -- action Leahy would take regarding the case.
"This all stems from AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee]," Gravel told IPS. Lawmakers are afraid of offending the powerful lobbying group -- which supports a hard-line position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with Israel's right-wing Likud Party -- and thus are unwilling to take up Al-Arian's case, he said. "This guy is just speaking out very effectively for the Palestinian cause, that's what is the root of this, and [the government is] trying to stifle that."
Gravel's comments on the case are echoed by Scott Horton, a former chair of the of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on International Law and a writer for Harper's Magazine.
"I believe that the defence is on firm ground saying that this is a case of political persecution," Horton stated in an interview with IPS. "In fact, I am hard pressed to find another case just like it."
Horton believes Al-Arian has been targeted not because he poses any sort of violent threat, but because he has been a high-profile and articulate critic of Israeli policies. And he believes the case shows that -- especially since 9/11 and the advent of the "war on terror" -- not even an acquittal is enough to exonerate someone accused of terrorism in the U.S.
"The prosecution's conduct is typical of the Bush Administration... in that it will not accept defeat, whether from a jury or a judge," stated Horton. "When they fail to get the relief they seek, they simply connive another way to secure it."
At the Washington event, Al-Arian's son Abdullah said that, at this point, the best his family could hope for is that the government ultimately decides to deport his father, as they promised to do in the 2006 plea agreement. "It's a sad day when you have to leave America to be free, but that's the America we live in -- for some people at least."
© 2008 Inter Press Service
19 Comments so far
Show AllI wonder what that great agent of change, Obama, would have to say about this?
USA..Land of the Fascist, Home of the Torturer.
Kind of makes sense that your National symbol is a carrion eater.
Senator Mike Gravel will be on the O'Reilly Factor tomorrow night, Wednesday August 6th, at 8 pm EST to discuss the Sami Al-Arian case.
Gravel recently made some pointed remarks regarding the prosecutor, and will appear to discuss those but also help to bring national prominence to Dr. Al-Arian's plight.
Because USA and Israel are founded on a foundation build by Satan the devil himself. In religious circles it is known as The Anti-Christ.
Down with the racist, colonial and imperial Israel.
What Americans -- and the world -- must realize is that the United States is no longer a constitutional democracy. We are led by lawless facists whose only goal is power. Respect for the rule of law was abandoned as long ago and Regan's term and the Oliver North led oppressions in South America.
This is just the rot of the final stages. Americans must now decide, not if, but HOW to live under tyranny. Other nations must decide how live with a corrupted and dissolute imperial power that no longer recognizes human rights in any form.
ADL, Simon Wiesenthal Center, B'nai B'rith and AIPAC are all organizations that support the continued terrorism of Israel. they employ McCarthyite tactics on all who speak against their bullying. If there was any justice every card carrying member of those groups should be in Get'mo getting waterboarded until they recant their fascist doctrine of Zionism and give Palestine back to the Palestinians.
Al-Arian isn't the only person suffering incredible miscarriages of justice from the past 7 1/2 years. Don't forget Muhajir (Jose Padilla, his chosen name consistently "forgotten"), an American citizen, no less, Siegleman, former governor of Alabama and railroaded-into-convict, and on and on. Catseyes is right. It's this blanket fear that we have allowed our "elected" politicians to throw at us time and time again. Will we ever stop falling for it? Probably not in time. By the time it's too late, everyone of us posting responses here, and on other progressive blogs, will have been rounded up also.
Does this mean we can lock up Bush, Cheney, Addington, Yoo, Cambone, Feith, Gonzales, Rummy, Condi, Ashcroft, and Pelosi because we don't like their politics? Makes as much sense to me.
THE LORAX, TRUTH FORWARD: Good posts.
S163: The Israelis may be developing the models for surveillance of citizens, but the mindset of fundamentalism seems to be reaching across the globe to cause an intersection of those damning interests of radical Jews, Christians and Muslims. In each case the disease is "intolerance" of other, and the erroneous God-directed fallacy that their way of living ALONE constitutes that which wins favor from the Lord.
While Israel may be on the vanguard of technologies that will facilitate the lockdown of "suspicious" citizens, there are MILLIONS from the 3 patriarchal religions (I wonder if similar trends are underway among Hindus?) that would abide by such a system. As John Dean pointed out, the authoritarian personality is found in all cultures, but it becomes especially dangerous when elites use it to manipulate large blocks of people against one another at ANY cost.
I honestly never thought that I'd live to see a president that made Richard Nixon look progressive. Is McCain going to be his Gerald Ford?
"Yet despite the lack of a single conviction, Al-Arian remains in prison"
We used to call and still call former USSR China and other tyrants where their was no rule of law.
Well we are now also like them only with a piece of paper called "constitution" which has no value.
The same thing happened to Japanese in the 1940's, Blacks in the 50's and 60's, and Russians in the 70's and 80's. Trumped up charges, Kangaroo Courts, and limitless bigotry. America always has someone to put down. This year it's Middle Easterners.
Apparantly, Sami Al-Arian is guilty of 2 crimes:
1. Hating Israel.
2. Being a Muslim.
Both of these are crimes in America and he is currently in prison for them, most likely being tortured as well.
This is the New America. Don't get too comfortable if you aren't a Muslim. We'll move on to another race or religion later on. Hope it's not you.
For those of you over 30: remember how we were told Soviet citizens were rounded up and detained on trumped up charges? This was usually followed by being told how we ought to be glad to be living in the land of the free.
It seems that Solzenitzyn forgot to pen a sequal to the Gulag Archepelego. This time set in the USA.
The difference?
For good or bad the Soviet Union provided her citizens with free healthcare, housing and an income.
Al-Arian was first arrested following a series of hate-laced, fear-based, shit-faced, total waste TV harassments by Bill O'reilly .
I have to say that blanket hate does worry me. Id consider "death to israel" somewhat along those lines.
I was kinda flabbergasted to see people in london with cardboard signs saying "England your 9-11 is coming". You have to understand why alot of arabs are pissed off though, its not just irrational hate. But whats a 13 year old jew kid in Israel who thinks his parents are god damned racists supposed to do, pack up his bags and move to France? Too many innocent people losing lives because of blanket hate, on all sides. I can understand why someone would attack soldiers, i can also understand why someone would blow up a pizzeria full of civilans but cant condone it. I cant really understand why a soldier can shoot a 10 year old kid in the head though, anyway, im rambling.
I understand where the hate is coming from, but i dont condone it. I try to be fair and i think jewish blanket hate of arabs is equally reprehensible.
Having said all that, i thought jail was for convicted criminals? Did i miss something?
The French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze wrote the following prophetic words thirty years ago:
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a model that will determine how problems of terrorism will be dealt with elsewhere, even in Europe. The worldwide cooperation of states, and the worldwide organization of police and criminal proceedings, will necessarily lead to a classification extending to more and more people who will be considered virtual "terrorists." This situation is analogous to the Spanish Civil War, when Spain served as an experimental laboratory for a far more terrible future.
Today Israel is conducting an experiment. It has invented a model of repression that, once adapted, will profit other countries...This conflict is a curious kind of blackmail, from which the whole world will never escape unless we lobby for the Palestinians to be recognized for what they are: "genuine partners" in peace talks. They are indeed at war, in a war they did not choose.
Just a few days ago, the government of Israel started the ball rolling toward creation of a National Biometric Database:
Israel's government has approved the creation of a biometric database which would contain fingerprints and facial photos of all Israeli citizens. If the bill becomes law--and it is at an early stage--the biometric information of each citizen would be embedded in their passport and national ID card. Israeli citizens would be required by law to submit to biometric testing upon request by government employees, soldiers, and policemen, so that their biometric info can be compared to the info embedded in their ID card / passport. The declared purpose of the bill is to combat forgery of passports and ID cards, and also to aid identification 'in cases of a mass disaster.' The bill was approved over objections from civil rights groups and the Israeli Bar.
It's only a matter of time before such thinking arrives on these shores.
"Yet despite the lack of a single conviction, Al-Arian remains in prison — where supporters say he has often been held in solitary confinement and denied access to his family and legal counsel — for refusing to testify in a trial against a northern Virginia Islamic think tank."
This is called by some "seepage". You won't be able to contain "gitmoization" to just a few "secret" prisons. Gradually the rot spreads to infect the regular criminal justice system.
The Zionists' desire to crush their Arab neighbors obviously reaches far beyond the Middle East. Why has the American people's government sold out to Israel? Is this not treason?