A Reminder About Sami Al-Arian
May 7, 2008, 12:20 am |
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By Bill West*
Lately, we hear much from supporters of detained ex-University of South Florida computer engineering professor Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty to (was convicted of) the Federal felony violation of providing assistance and support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization. Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months prison time for his crime. He was also ordered to be deported from the United States at the completion of his criminal incarceration.
During his incarceration, prosecutors in northern Virginia have sought to have Al-Arian testify before a Federal grand jury investigating an Islamic charity that was linked to a Tampa-based PIJ front think-tank run by Al-Arian and several of his cronies. To date, Al-Arian has refused to testify before the Virginia grand jury and has been held in civil contempt. Al-Arian and his attorneys claim he should not be required to testify because his Tampa plea agreement with the Government carried a non-cooperation clause. The Government claims his plea agreement did not extend to grand jury proceedings where he might be subpoenaed and granted immunity from further prosecution, as is the case in the Virginia inquiry. So far, two Federal appellate Courts, the 4th Circuit and the 11th Circuit, have agreed with the Government’s position.
The Government appears to be currently deciding if it wants to go forward with further contempt proceedings against Al-Arian or to simply move on his removal…as in deportation. Actual physical deportation of a felony convicted terrorist-linked stateless Palestinian is no easy task for the U.S. Government. This became evident with Al-Arian’s cohort Fawaz Damra, a former Cleveland Imam convicted of naturalization fraud in 2004 based on his lying about his Al-Arian-linked support for the PIJ and other radical Islamic organizations. Damra was eventually deported to the Palestinian territories, but not without significant obstacles. Al-Arian’s PIJ-linked brother-in-law Mazzen Al-Najjar was also deported, though not criminally convicted, several years ago after a lengthy legal battle that similarly became a public cause against so-called, but highly misrepresented and misunderstood, “secret evidence” in immigration proceedings. If and when the Government moves to deport Al-Arian, it should be understood that effort will have required substantial and difficult work on the part of several agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the State Department.
Al-Arian reportedly just ended a hunger strike protesting his lengthy detention in the contempt proceedings. His supporters, seemingly spearheaded by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claim he is being “persecuted” by the Government because of his political beliefs and his support for the plight of the oppressed Palestinian people and because Al-Arian, of course, is Palestinian himself. They claim Al-Arian is no more than a vocal advocate for Palestinian justice pursued by overzealous Government agents and prosecutors. They claim Al-Arian pleaded guilty only to finally end the long case against him, to see freedom with his family and move on with his life. They claim the Government should simply deport Al-Arian and let him reunite with his family members, most of whom have reportedly moved back to the Middle East.
Al-Arian’s supporters ignore the close financial, operational and personnel relationships he and his Tampa PIJ front organization shared with the Virginia charity being investigated; relationships that included at least $50,000 in transactions and the “exchange” of a PIJ-linked operative via immigration fraud (clearly, those Federal prosecutors in Virginia have solid reason to seek Al-Arian’s testimony). Those supporters ignore the multiple independent judicial rulings, including those two separate appellate court rulings, that go against Al-Arian…Sami has indeed had his many days in court. Those supporters are right about one thing…Al-Arian was vocal. As the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has documented, Al-Arian provided ample examples of his Hitlerian speech abilities during various conferences in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he and his cohorts were seeking support for the Jihad movement, a movement that murdered hundreds of innocent people including Americans. You can see these speeches and more about Al-Arian here, here, here, here and here.
Sami Al-Arian will likely continue to be a hero and martyr to his die-hard supporters, and that may say something about some of them. An objective review of the facts in the Al-Arian case reveals he is anything but that.
*Counterterrorism Blog
May 6, 2008
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/05/
a_reminder_about_sami_alarian.php
Cross-posted with permission
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Categories, Tags: Islam, War Against Islamo-fascism, Palestinians, Terrorist Groups, Academia, Law
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