Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian who was born in Kuwait, was arrested
Thursday morning at his Tampa home, one of four people arrested here
and in Chicago. Authorities were still searching for four other men
overseas, authorities in Washington, D.C., said. One is a former USF
professor and Al-Arian friend who abruptly left the school eight
years ago to become the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's worldwide head
after its leader was assassinated.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Palestinian Islamic Jihad is
responsible for killing 100 people in and around Israel and called
it "one of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world."
The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Tampa, was
unsealed Thursday. It says Al-Arian, 45, is the group's U.S. leader
and secretary of its worldwide council. It says Al-Arian -- who
founded an Islamic think tank at USF -- used the school as a cover
to bring Palestinian Islamic Jihad members to the United States
under the guise that they were attending academic conferences.
Al-Arian and the other two arrested in Tampa later Thursday made
their first appearance in federal court.
Al-Arian's attorney, Nicholas Matassini, called the indictment "a
work of fiction."
"He's a political prisoner, right now as we speak," he said,
noting that Al-Arian is now on a hunger strike, accepting no food,
drink or medicine.
He is being held without bond until a detention hearing Tuesday.
Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 41, a West Bank native now living in
Tinley Park, Ill., and owner of a small business.
The government gave no evidence that the men carried out any
attacks.
In addition, one of the four men sought overseas is former USF
instructor Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, 45, a Gaza Strip native who now
lives in Damascas, Syria. He once headed an Islamic think tank
founded at USF by Al-Arian.
After he suddenly disappeared from USF in 1995, he resurfaced
months later in the Middle East as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's
head. Al-Arian has long denied knowing of Shallah's plans or ties to
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The eight defendants, who face life sentences if convicted, are
charged with operating a racketeering enterprise since 1984. The
charges include conspiracy within the United States to kill and maim
persons abroad, conspiracy to provide material support and resources
to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, conspiracy to violate emergency
economic sanctions, engaging in various acts of interstate
extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud.
Among the 100 people whose killings are blamed on the
organization in Israel and the territories are those of two U.S.
citizens: Alisa Flatow, 20, and Shoshama Ben-Yishai, 16. The
killings included suicide bombings, car bombs and drive-by
shootings, most recently a June 5 suicide attack in Haifa, Israel,
that killed 20 and injured 50.
Omar Ahmad, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said his group is "very concerned that the government
would bring charges after investigating an individual for many years
without offering any evidence of criminal activity."
"This action could leave the impression that Al-Arian's arrest is
based on political considerations, not legitimate national security
concerns," he said.
Al-Arian was placed on forced leave and banned from the USF
campus shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and his
subsequent appearance on Fox News Channel.
He
was quizzed about links to known terrorists, and asked about tapes
from the late 1980s and early 1990s in which he said "Death to
Israel" in Arabic. Al-Arian has said that he has never advocated
violence against others and that his words were a statement against
Israeli occupation. He also has consistently denied any connection
to terrorists.
But the university says his statements hurt the school's
fund-raising efforts and resulted in threats being made against the
school.
The university also claimed the professor raised money for
terrorist groups, brought terrorists into the United States and
founded organizations that support terrorism.
At the beginning of an already scheduled board of trustees
meeting on campus Thursday, USF President Judy Genshaft said the
trustees still needed to review the indictment and didn't have a
timetable set on what action they would take.
"We must continue to act prudently and do what's best for our
institution," she said.
Al-Arian and his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, founded the
World and Islam Studies Enterprises, a now-defunct Islamic think
tank at USF that was raided by the FBI in 1995. Al-Arian also
founded the Islamic Concern Project Inc. in 1988.
Al-Arian has lived in the United States since 1975 and had taught
at the university since 1986.
Last month, USF's faculty union filed a grievance on Al-Arian's
behalf, saying that banning him from campus violated its contract,
Al-Arian's right to academic freedom and the school's own policy of
nondiscrimination on the basis of ethnicity and religious
affiliation.
His brother-in-law, who also had taught at the university, spent
more than 3½ years in jail on secret evidence linking him to
terrorists. He was released in 2000 but arrested again in November
2001 and deported last August to undisclosed Islamic country.
"Everyone knows my husband is innocent, even those who accuse him
of all these things for political reasons," Al-Arian's wife, Nahla,
said as she left her home Thursday to attend her husband's court
hearing. "I saw injustice happen to my brother, I see it now to my
husband. I've been living it for years."
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