Victory for Dr. Sami Al-Arian: feds drop all charges!

All criminal charges against Palestinian American community leader and professor, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, were dropped on Friday, June 27^th.  The United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) congratulates Dr. Al-Arian, his family, and his legal defense team for this huge victory.

Dr. Al-Arian was facing criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify in front of a grand jury unrelated to a case in which he accepted a plea bargain from the U.S. government.  The government’s move to dismiss the charges is a response to trial Judge Leonie Brinkema having not yet ruled on a defense motion that was filed over five years ago.

As Dr. Al-Arian and his family were living in limbo awaiting Brinkema’s decision, another U.S. District Court Judge, Anthony Trenga, signed the order to accept the government’s motion, which ends close to two decades of repression against the doctor. The witch hunt began in 1994, when federal agents began surveilling, wiretapping, and investigating him. In 2003, federal prosecutors in Tampa filed an indictment which alleged that he was affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the many Palestinian resistance groups that the U.S. State Department calls a terrorist organization.

The PATRIOT Act, which had recently been passed and gave federal law enforcement wider-reaching powers of spying and surveillance, was cornerstone in the legal persecution of Dr. Al-Arian.  At the time of the indictment, then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced it on national television, in an unprecedented move, as a victory against the “War on Terror.” During the three year span of investigations and trial preparation, Dr. Al-Arian was held in solitary confinement, and subjected to various forms of inhumane and degrading treatment. Over the six month trial, more than a quarter of the prosecution’s witnesses were flown in from Israel to testify about incidents with no connection to Dr. Al-Arian and his case. The presiding judge also banned Dr. Al-Arian’s defense team from mentioning anything regarding Palestine or military occupation.

Despite clear bias, explicit abuse of due process, and declarations of victory by the government, which invested over 50 million of our tax dollars in the case, the jury did not find Dr. Al-Arian guilty of any charges related to terrorism, and  dead locked on the remaining nine lesser charges.  To avoid a retrial, Dr. Al-Arian accepted a plea agreement, including time served for the days he spent in prison and voluntary departure from the United States.

Even after the plea, the U.S. government continued to search for ways to repress and punish him.  Three months later, in May 2006, he was subpoenaed to a federal grand jury to answer questions about other Muslims and activists in Florida. When Dr. Al-Arian refused to testify, he was charged with criminal contempt of court and thrown back in prison, prompting him, although diabetic, to go on a 62-day hunger strike.  The political prisoner was finally released and sentenced to house arrest and electronic monitoring in 2008.  Judge Brinkema loosened some conditions of his detention in 2010, allowing him to leave his house intermittently.

The case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian is one of the most egregious examples of the U.S. government’s criminal post-911 policy against our community and its leaders, and we stand in support and solidarity with him, Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar, and all other political prisoners across the country.   “Dr. Al-Arian’s family and thousands of supporters in Florida and across the country worked hard to free him, and this victory is proof positive that prosecutions like these can be defeated not only with a great legal team, but also with strong community organizing and consistent pressure on the government,” said Leila Taha of USPCN’s Chicago chapter.

As we celebrate Dr. Al-Arian’s victory, USPCN continues to call on everyone to urge the Department of Justice to drop all charges against community leader and Palestine activist Rasmea Odeh. The political persecution of the torture survivor is another government attempt to silence and intimidate members of our community. This victory should motivate us to further mobilize and advocate in support of Odeh, and we repeat our call: “All Out for Detroit!” on September 8^th, the day her trial begins. Write to [email protected] to confirm your organizational and individual attendance.  More information can be found at www.uspcn.org and www.stopfbi.net.