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Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 01-24-2007
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike
Never Convicted Muslim Professor Lingers in Prison and Harassed by the Government
WASHINGTON, DC - Jan. 23, 2007 (MASNET) Yesterday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian began a hunger strike to protest continued government harassment. Earlier, Dr. Al-Arian appeared before a new grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was subpoenaed by a federal prosecutor to testify a second time in the same case. After Dr. Al-Arian expressed his ethical stance against testifying, a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia held him in civil contempt, once again prolonging his suffering and imprisonment by up to 18 months. Dr. Al-Arian's originally scheduled release date is April 13.
Last November, the same judge placed Dr. Al-Arian in civil contempt for not testifying. At the time, his attorneys argued that cooperation was a clear violation of the plea agreement he reached with Florida prosecutors last May. One month after he was held in contempt, the grand jury term expired. However, less than a month later, a new grand jury was once again impaneled by Gordon Kromberg, a federal prosecutor who allegedly boasts about his contempt for Muslims and Arabs while touring Israel.
During yesterday's court appearance, Dr. Al-Arian's attorney requested to delay the judge's decision until further evidence could be brought to light supporting Dr. Al-Arian's decision not testify and the highlighting the government's abuse of power. However, the judge denied the request and ordered that Dr. Al-Arian be held in civil contempt. -Please read below Dr. Al-Arian's statement before the judge-
This is the second hunger strike by Dr. Al-Arian, who is a diabetic, during his nearly four-year imprisonment. Following his February 20, 2003 incarceration, he went on a 140-day hunger strike to protest the government's political persecution. During that time, he was hospitalized and lost 45 pounds.
In recent weeks, Dr. Al-Arian has been placed under particularly arduous conditions after he was moved from Warsaw, Virginia to Atlanta because of what prison authorities deemed a "mistake." Not only did the nonsensical move further isolate Dr. Al-Arian from family and friends, but he was also denied phone calls and visitations in Atlanta.
Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of MAS Freedom Foundation stated "The government after years of incarcerating Dr. Al-Arian and spending millions of the taxpayers' dollars, was unable to get a single conviction by a federal jury in this case. In short they lost the case. Yet they've used every trick in the book to persecute Dr. Al-Arian and his family. His prison treatment is extremely inhumane, including periods of 23 hour lock-down in a rat and roach infested environment, deliberately improperly dressed while forced to walk in sub-freezing weather, and threats and abuse from guards and U.S. marshals. These latest developments in Dr. Al-Arian's case are a clear and outrageous display of government corruption and abuse of power. In spite of an agreement intended to resolve his case once and for all, the government has continued to harass Dr. Al-Arian and mire him further in legal purgatory. Clearly the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is complicit in the inhumane treatment of Dr. Al-Arian. Congress, who has oversight over the U.S. prison system, needs to be alerted to this abuse and inhumane treatment."
Dr. Al-Arian vows that he will remain on a hunger strike until the government ends its vindictive campaign against him and allows him to return to his wife and children.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
Please write to the following individuals to ask for an immediate end to Dr. Al-Arian's suffering:
1- Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
2- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax Number: (202) 307-6777
BY E-MAIL:
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General,
may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj. gov.
3- The Honorable John Conyers, Jr
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
John.Conyers@ mail.house. gov
4- Senator Patrick Leahy
433 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
(299029)224- 4242
senator_leahy@ leahy.senate. gov
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Dr. Al-Arian's Statement before Judge Gerald Lee of the Eastern District of Virginia
January 22, 2007 (Fair summary not verbatim):
"Thank you, your honor, for giving me the opportunity to address the court. First of all, I have no contempt whatsoever for this honorable court, but all the respect in the world for it.
The initial draft of the plea agreement presented by the government to my defense team contained a cooperation clause. I told my defense team, Bill Moffitt and Linda Moreno, that my belief system and conscience are totally against talking about anyone, and if the government insisted on including this section they should break off negotiations and proceed towards trial. The chief prosecutor in my trial, Mr. Terry Zitek, acknowledged as much during the November 6, 2006 hearing in Tampa before Judge Moody when he said: `Mr. Al-Arian said no cooperation and we said fine and took it out.'
Furthermore, from the outset of the negotiations both the government and the defense agreed that the disposition of the count I pleaded to on level 26 with three points deduction to level 23. The sentencing guideline for level 23 is 46-57 months. It was also agreed between the parties that I will receive time served and have an expedited deportation. Therefore, the government agreed to recommend the low-end of the guideline, which was essentially time served.
However, there was always the risk that the judge (Moody) would go for the higher end or somewhere in between. So I asked Mr. Bill Moffitt what we could do to ensure the low end. He advised me that the only way to guarantee the low end would be to include cooperation which I totally ruled out; this would have reduced it to level 21 with a maximum sentence of 37 months, way below the time served. So I took the risk of serving 11 more months; in fact I am serving 11 more months for totally refusing the cooperation section.
Moreover, in August 2000, I was subpoenaed by the government in a federal immigration proceeding, and I was asked the following question: "Do you believe in the use of violence to free Islam? My answer was one word, "No." Despite the absurdity and awkwardness of such a question, it was count 47 in the indictment and count 50 in the superseding indictment.
I also would like to bring to the court's attention to the way I have been treated for the past three weeks. In the past three weeks, I have been to four prisons. I spent fourteen days in the Atlanta penitentiary under 23-hour lockdown, in a roach and rat infested environment. On two occasions, rats shared my diabetic snack. When I was transported from Atlanta to Petersburg (Virginia) and from Petersburg to Alexandria, they allowed me only to wear a t-shirt in subfreezing weather during long walks. In the early morning, the Atlanta guard took my thermal undershirt which I purchased from the prison and threw it in the garbage and when I complained, he threatened to use a lockbox on my handcuffs which would make them extremely uncomfortable. In Petersburg, the guard asked me to take off my clean t-shirt and boxers and gave me dirty and worn out ones. When I complained, he told me to `shut the f up.' And when I asked why he was treating me like that, he said `because you're a terrorist.' When I further complained to the lieutenant in charge, he shrugged it off and said if I don't like it, I should write a grievance to the Bureau of Prisons. When I said he had the authority to give me clean clothes, he refused and said if I don't like it I should write a grievance to the Bureau of Prisons. During one of the airlifts, an air marshal further tightened my already tightened handcuffs, and asked me `Why do you hate us?' I told him, `I don't hate you.' He said, `I know who you are, I've read your s-h-i-t.' These are examples of the government's harassment campaign against me that's been taking place for years because of my political beliefs."
The judge then interrupted Dr. Al-Arian and told him that he should not be harassed but that he (the judge) has no control over the bureau of prisons. He added that Dr. Al-Arian should not be mistreated because of his political beliefs. He nonetheless held him in contempt.
-END-
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The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. MAS is America's largest grassroots Muslim organization with over 50 chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
MAS Freedom Foundation
1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 496-1288
Fax: (202) 463-0686
URL: http://www.masnet.org/index_publicaffairs.asp
Email: MAS4Freedom@aol.com
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 02-09-2007
Sami Al-Arian’s Hunger Strike
Feb. 3, 2007
by Sarah Shields
“Has anyone told you that you look like Gandhi?” my companion asked Professor Sami al-Arian. Al-Arian was sitting behind a plastic wall wearing striped prison clothes and speaking into two telephones.
It was easy not only to see the resemblance, but also to feel it. Dr. Al-Arian has a strikingly similar smile, Gandhi-like eyes, the same lean frame as he finished the first week of his hunger strike. More remarkable, after being both prosecuted and persecuted, he maintains his confidence in the rule of law, the American system of justice, and the basic goodness of his persecutors. And he has come through it all with his good nature and sense of humor, despite his weakening condition.
Dr. Sami Al-Arian has now spent four years in jail, three of those in solitary confinement while awaiting trial. In December 2005, despite years to prepare the case against him, and an estimated $80 million dollars of American tax money to pursue it, Dr. Al-Arian was acquitted of eight of the seventeen charges against him, including conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad, conspiracy to support a foreign terrorist organization (two counts), mail fraud (two counts), and obstruction of justice (two counts). More than a year after his acquittal, we visited him at Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia, where he is being held for contempt of court for refusing to testify in an unrelated matter.
The United States government was deeply embarrassed after this acquittal in a high-profile trial that was to have been a showcase for the USA PATRIOT Act. After being imprisoned under conditions condemned by Amnesty International, in lock-down 23 hours a day for 37 months before his trial, regularly shackled and strip-searched, denied religious services, refused adequate access to the documents necessary to prepare his defense (tens of thousands of pages of transcripts from years of electronic surveillance), after being brought into the courtroom heavily shackled and treated as a terrorist, Al-Arian was gracious in victory.
For Sami al-Arian, the jury’s verdict reinforced the confidence he had always held in both the United States and her system of justice. Addressing the court, he thanked his attorneys and his adopted country.
“This process, your Honor, affirmed my belief in the true meaning of a democratic society, in which the independence of the judiciary, the integrity of the jury system, and the system of checks and balances are upheld, despite intense political and public pressures....It’s also my belief that an impartial and conscientious jury, as well as principled judicial rulings that uphold the values of the constitution, are the real vehicles that win the hearts and minds of people across the globe, especially in the Arab and Muslim world.”
The American Civil Liberties Union wrote to the government arguing that retrying Dr. Al-Arian “following the recent acquittal of all serious charges lodged against him would appear to be pointless and vindictive.” As the government refused to preclude a retrial, and with exhausted attorneys and inadequate funds to pursue a defense against the remaining counts (on which two jurors remained unconvinced), the defendant decided to conclude a plea deal. Dr. Al-Arian pled guilty to one of the remaining charges against him solely in order to be finished with his ordeal. He agreed to deportation in return for the termination of all legal proceedings against him, and what Al-Arian believed was a good-faith commitment relieving him of the obligation to testify against others.
U.S. District Judge James Moody seemed unswayed even by the arguments of the prosecutors, and sentenced Dr. Al-Arian to another eleven months jail, to be completed in April 2007. But it seems the government is unwilling to carry out this agreement.
In October 2006 Virginia US Attorney in Gordon Kromberg asked a grand jury to subpoena Professor Al-Arian to testify in a case involving a Muslim think-tank. Pointing out that testifying had been explicitly deleted from the plea bargain, with the specific consent of the prosecutors in Florida, he refused. As he explained it to us last week, his refusal comes from two places. First, he considers it inconsistent with his faith and his values to testify. Second, he anticipates that any testimony would be used to create new “facts” to rearrest him. His fear seems well-founded. At a hearing in 2000, a government attorney asked whether Dr. Al-Arian believed that Islam could only be liberated through violence. Professor Al-Arian’s response, of course, was “No.” One of the 17 counts against him in 2003 was perjury, the government contending he lied when responding that violence was not required to liberate Islam.
Responding to being placed in civil contempt, Al-Arian pointed out that he had “no contempt whatsoever for this honorable court, but all the respect in the world for it.” It seems, instead, that it is the government that has contempt for the legal system Professor Al-Arian has relied upon and admired for decades. Instead of respecting the plea agreement, Mr. Kromberg referred to it as a “bonanza.” Despite having been found guilty of nothing by a U.S. court, Judge Moody and Mr. Kromberg persist in their belief in Dr. Al-Arian’s culpability. It appears that Mr. Kromberg’s attitude is based in part on Sami Al-Arian’s religion. Attorney Jack Fernandez requested that Kromberg delay Al-Arian’s transfer to Virginia until the end of Ramadan. Fernandez quoted Kromberg’s response in an affidavit, “If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury, all they can’t do is eat before sunset. I believe Mr. Al-Arian’s request is part of the attempted Islamization of the American Justice System. I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian’s grand jury appearance just to assist in what is becoming the Islamization of America.” Gordon Kromberg has denied a request to recuse himself in this case.
It was both Sami Al-Arian’s religious faith, and his faith in our system of government that got him arrested in 2003. Al-Arian actually believes what we say about freedom of worship, and has spent years trying to inform Americans about Islam. Stunned by the events of September 11, he agreed to talk with Bill O’Reilly about Muslim responses to the tragedy. To his surprise, the FOX News host attacked him, relentlessly interrogating him about an investigation dating back to 1993, in which Al-Arian had been found blameless years earlier. Within days, Professor Al-Arian had been fired from the university in which he had taught for 15 years, despite his tenure. As opposition mounted, and the American Association of University Professors threatened sanctions against the University of South Florida, the university’s president got the help she needed: the FBI resurrected the old allegations and Al-Arian was arrested.
It appears now that, despite being exonerated by a jury of his peers, Sami Al-Arian has been found guilty, guilty of being a Muslim, and a Palestinian. In the years since September 11, 2001, more and more Muslims and Arabs have been accused of terrorism, their lives put on hold, their families divided, their freedom denied. In the face of new legislation suspending habeus corpus and stripping even US citizens of their rights to a swift and fair trial, Professor Al-Arian’s experience is a frightening foreshadowing of the futures of those who would count on American freedoms of religion, speech, dissent.
Dr. Al-Arian continues to have faith in our system and in our country. “As I leave,” he told the court at his sentencing, “I harbor no bitterness or resentment. Looking back at my three decades in America, I’m indeed grateful for the opportunities afforded to the son of stateless Palestinian refugees in a foreign country, while denied such opportunity in his country of origin and the countries where he was born or raised. I’m grateful that my five wonderful children were born and raised in a society that provided them with freedom and equal opportunities in order to reach their potential.”
Sami Al-Arian’s children, and all of our children, need the American system of justice to prevail. Time is running out for Professor Al-Arian as he continues to refuse food to protest the injustice of his continuing imprisonment. Time is running out for justice if Americans refuse to insist on the enforcement of our Constitution.
Source: http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/featu..._strike/0012991
For a list of actions to be taken visit: (http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - SisterJennifer - 02-15-2007
WRITE LETTERS IN SUPPORT OF DR. AL-ARIAN
<b>Imprisoned Florida professor collapses on 23rd day of hunger strike</b>
WASHINGTON D.C., 2/15/07 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on American Muslims and other people of conscience to write letters in support of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a former Florida professor currently on a hunger strike in federal detention to protest his treatment by U.S. authorities.
Family members report that Al-Arian collapsed on the 23rd day of his fast and has been moved from Virginia to a medical facility in North Carolina.
Al-Arian began his hunger strike more than three weeks ago after being given a sentence of up to 18 months for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. His attorneys say an earlier plea agreement freed him from further cooperation with the government. Supporters say the government's actions amount to a form of harassment.
SEE: Al-Arian Goes on Hunger Strike (Arab American News)
In 2005, a Florida jury rejected federal charges that Al-Arian operated a cell for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was scheduled for release and deportation in April.
SEE: No Guilty Verdicts in Al-Arian Trial (Tampa Tribune)
The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a national coalition of major American Muslim organizations, recently said the new prison sentence given to Al-Arian amounted to unconstitutional "double jeopardy."
<b>IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:</b> (As always, be firm, but POLITE.)
1. CONTACT the following officials to request that Dr. Sami Al-Arian be released from detention and allowed to leave the country with his family. (Make sure to include your name, address and ZIP Code in the letter)
The Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square
Alexandria, VA 22314
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: (202) 307-6777
E-Mail: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: comments@whitehouse.gov
Sample Letter:
Dr. Sami Al-Arian is currently on a hunger strike in federal detention to protest his treatment by U.S. authorities. Family members report that Al-Arian collapsed on the 23rd day of his fast and has been moved from Virginia to a medical facility in North Carolina. He began his hunger strike more than three weeks ago after being given a sentence of up to 18 months for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. His attorneys say an earlier plea agreement freed him from further cooperation and that the government's actions amount to a form of harassment. I therefore respectfully request that you support the immediate release of Dr. Al-Arian so that he and his family may resume their lives in another country.
2. CONTACT your own elected representatives through: http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/
3. SEND COPIES of all correspondence to CAIR at: info@cair.com or fax: 202-488-0833
4. COPY TO Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. E-Mail: john.conyers@mail.house.gov or fax: (202) 225-0072
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 02-21-2007
New Page 2
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
<<PRESS CONFERENCE>>
<<FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE>>
Contact:
MAS Freedom Foundation, (202) 496-1288 or (202) 421-3623
Day Thirty-one, Dr. Sami Al-Arian Continues Prison Hunger Strike
Lawyers and Supporters to Express Legal and Health Concerns at Justice Department Press Conference
WASHINGTON, DC - Feb. 21, 2007 (MASNET) The press conference will be held in front of the U.S. Department of Justice at 9th and Pennsylvania Ave on behalf of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, Muslim professor and activist. Dr. Al-Arian has been on a thirty day prison hunger strike to protest his legal treatment, incarceration, and current 18 month sentence for civil contempt. (For more legal information about the case see: http://www.masnet.org/takeaction.asp?id=4010 )
Thousands of Dr. Al-Arian's supporters have responded to the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation's call for a day of solidarity and have agreed today to observe a 1 day Hunger Strike for Justice in support of Dr. Al-Arian. Additionally, a documentary on Dr. Al-Arian's trial and imprisonment has been made by Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen. The documentary is being aired in Europe this month.
Speaking at the press conference will be Attorney Peter Erlinder, Attorney Ashraf Nubani, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Dr. Al-Arian's wife and family members, Amnesty International, and other civil and human rights organizations.
Dr. Al-Arian's legal representatives, family, and supporters have expressed serious concerns about Dr. Al-Arian's health and prison treatment.
WHO: The press conference is sponsored by the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation and includes Dr. Al-Arian's lawyer, Peter Erlinder, family members, religious leaders, human rights organizations, and other national Muslim organizations.
WHEN: February 21st, 2007
WHERE: U.S. Department of Justice (In front)
9th and Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20530
For more information contact MAS Freedom Foundation at: (202) 496-1288 or (202)-421-3623
###
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The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national grassroots religious, social, and educational organization. MAS is America's largest grassroots Muslim organization with over 50 chapters nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
MAS Freedom Foundation
1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 496-1288
Fax: (202) 463-0686
URL: http://www.masnet.org/index_publicaffairs.asp
Email: MAS4Freedom@aol.com
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - SisterJennifer - 04-21-2007
<b>Authorities Probe Alleged Abuse of Al-Arian</b>
April 19, 2007
Authorities have opened an inquiry into claims that federal guards abused and threatened a prominent Palestinian Arab inmate, Sami Al-Arian, as he was being transferred last week to a jail in Northern Virginia from a prison hospital in North Carolina.
"It has been referred for an investigation," a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, Traci Billingsley, said yesterday.
Sami Al-Arian, 49, complained to family members that he was kept in freezing temperatures, cursed at, and subjected to religious insults by a guard during a strip search at a facility in Petersburg, Va., Al-Arian's daughter, Laila, said in an interview. A supervisor who overheard the taunts later tightened shackles on her father's legs so tight that they were numb during a four-hour drive to Alexandria, Va., from Petersburg, she said.
"This corrections officer saw my dad and asked the question, ‘Where are you from, Afghanistan?'" Ms. Al-Arian said, recounting the story her father told her by phone last week. She said her father, who was born in Kuwait but considers himself to be Palestinian, declined to answer.
Ms. Al-Arian said the guard began cursing and shouted, "It doesn't matter where you're from. If I had my way, you wouldn't be in prison. I'd put a bullet in your head and get it done with it. You're nothing but a piece of s—."
The prisoner's daughter said that her father replied, "Why do you say that? You don't know me." She said this set the guard off on another rant, in which he declared, "I know enough about all you guys. You're all pieces of s—. You can go pray to the f— that you pray to."
Ms. Al-Arian said the lieutenant who painfully shackled her father also shoved him against a wall when he arrived in Alexandria on Thursday. She said a lawyer had filed a formal complaint.
http://www.nysun.com/article/52836
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - SisterJennifer - 05-13-2007
CAIR-FL: FILM ON AL-ARIAN OPENS NEXT WEEK
A documentary that tells the story of the Sami Al-Arian prosecution from his family's point of view is going to be shown Wednesday night at the Tampa Theatre.
Made by Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen, "USA vs Al-Arian" doesn't have a U.S. distributor, said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, which is co-sponsoring the showing of the film.
Bedier and the Rev. Warren Clark, pastor of the First United Church of Christ, held a news conference to call attention to the showing.
Reporters were provided with a 15-minute excerpt of the film. The full documentary was not available for a prescreening, despite extensive efforts by reporters.
The film's producers did not respond to an e-mail seeking a review copy of the film, and the theater referred a reporter to the council. Bedier said he wouldn't have access to the full film until next week.
In the excerpt provided, Al-Arian is interviewed in jail talking about the pain of separation from his family and of his incarceration. The government, he asserts, is trying to break him.
His wife, Nahla, is shown cutting son Ali's hair as Al-Arian participates in family discussions by speakerphone.
http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=a...4037&theType=NB
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 12-07-2007
Video Report at http://mahdibray.com
MASNET
WASHINGTON, DC - Dec. 7, 2007 - (MASNET) MAS Freedom (MASF) Executive Director, Mahdi Bray, attended the December 5 premier of "USA vs. Al-Arain", the multi-awarded documentary film about controversial "terrorism-trial" against Dr. Sami Al-Arain, with A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Director, Brian Becker and Mara Verheyden-Hillard of the Partnership for Civil Justice, and more than 800 other attendees.
Bray offers a video report on his blog (view here).
"USA vs. Al-Arian" is a disturbing film on freedom of speech in post 9/11 America and political persecution. The film follows the arrest and trial of Sami Al-Arian, an Arab-American university professor accused of supporting a terrorist organization abroad.
For two-and-a-half years, Dr. Al-Arian was held in solitary confinement, denied basic privileges and given limited access to his attorneys. The film is an intimate family portrait documenting how a tight-knit family unravels before our very eyes as trial preparations, strategy and media spin consume their lives.
Norwegian Director Line Halvorsen has made a damning portrait of the case focusing on the trial's emotional toll.
This is a nightmare come to life, as a man is prosecuted for his beliefs rather than his actions.
In 2006, after three years in solitary confinement with no convictions, Al-Arian agreed to a plea bargain to serve 11 more months in prison. He was to be deported in April 2007, but is still being held in a Virginia jail on civil contempt charges (he refuses to testify in an unrelated case). Dr. Al-Arian appeared in federal court on Oct. 17, 2007 at a hearing scheduled by Judge Gerald Lee to revisit the continuing civil contempt citation. The judge denied Dr. Al-Arian's motion for the contempt to be lifted. No reason was given for his decision. Another hearing is scheduled for mid-December.
View Movie Trailer HERE.
Learn More About Future Premier Dates and Locations HERE.
For more news about Dr. Al-Arian's case see www.freesamialarian.com
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May Allah Puts all this in the balance of his good deeds, Grants him a way out soon ameen.
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - SisterJennifer - 12-15-2007
<b> CAIR Welcomes Lifting of Al-Arian Contempt Charges</b>
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/14/07) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed a federal judge’s decision to lift civil contempt charges against Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor who has been serving time for refusing to testify before a grand jury.
Civil contempt charges against Al-Arian were dropped when the grand jury he was subpoenaed to testify before expired. Prosecutors could seek additional contempt charges and jail time when a new grand jury is convened in January.
In 2005, a Florida jury rejected federal charges that Al-Arian operated a cell for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian later pleaded guilty to one non-violent offense and was scheduled for release and deportation in April 2007.
Al-Arian’s attorneys say the plea agreement freed him from further cooperation with the government, yet the Justice Department has twice attempted to force him to testify before a grand jury. When he refused, he was charged with civil contempt and jailed. Observers say the government’s actions amount to a form of harassment.
Because of federal rules that prohibit time served for contempt charges from counting toward the completion of another sentence, Al-Arian is now serving the remaining 115 days of his original five-year sentence.
“We welcome the judge’s decision to drop the contempt charges and hope the coming months will bring the justice that is so long overdue to Dr. Al-Arian and his family,” said CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier. “We continue to appeal to the Department of Justice to end Dr. Al-Arian’s suffering by honoring its original plea agreement.”
The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace is calling on all of Al-Arian’s supporters to continue to work for Al-Arian's freedom by writing to Attorney General Mukasey and the House and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairs to urge Al-Arian’s release after the remainder of his original prison term is served.
Attorney General
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
(202) 307-6777 Fax
askdoj@usdoj.gov
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 04-13-2008
MAS Freedom Protests Transfer of Dr. Sami Al-Arian to Solitary Confinement Facility
Executive Director to Join Coalition in New York for April 15 Press Conference
It's More Important Now Than Ever
to Join MAS Freedom's Judiciary Letter Writing Campaign!
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) April 12, 2008 - MAS Freedom (MASF), as the civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS), has learned that, without any apparent explanation, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, in the 41st day of a hunger strike he began on April 3, 2008 in protest of the U.S. government's continued abuse of power in refusing to fulfill its obligation under a plea agreement outlining terms for his release, was transferred today from a regular holding cell at the Howard County Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland, to the 'Special Housing Unit' (SHU).
The SHU is known as being the most restrictive section of the prison, designated for inmates who are, for example, placed in solitary confinement 23-hours a day, and oftentimes subjected to continuous, deafening alarm sounds. Clearly, under the extenuating circumstance of Dr. Al-Arian's weakening health, this is a move that is nothing short of a continuation of the government's attempts to physically and psychologically break the resolve of a man who has been subjected to tactics such as this, despite being acquitted at trial, for the past 5 years.
"We must stand in solidarity in the call for accountability on the part of the federal government in demanding the release of Dr. Al-Arian," stated MAS Freedom Executive Director, Mahdi Bray.
Bray will travel to New York on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 to participate in a press conference to demand the release of Dr. Al-Arian. Also scheduled to speak are Former U.S. Congressman, Ramsey Clark; Sara Flounder, Co-Director, The International Action Center; Imam Siraj Wahaj, Talib Abdur-Rashid, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild, Aliya Latif, Civil Rights Director Council on American-Islamic Relations, Laila Al-Arian, daughter of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, and Malaak Shabazz, daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz - Malcolm X.
Tuesday's press conference is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM and will be held at The Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, 3940 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10032.
Take Action!
It is more important now than ever for all people of conscience to join MAS Freedom's Judiciary Letter Writing Campaign in protest of the continued miscarriage of justice in the case of Dr. Al-Arian, decried by human and civil rights organizations world-wide as being grossly inconsistent with international standards for humane treatment.
Learn More About MAS Freedom's Judiciary Committee Letter Writing Campaign here.
Screenings of USA vs. Al-Arian
Friends of Human Rights (a group that began in Tampa when Dr. al-Arian was first arrested) have organized a national tour to present the award-winning film "USA vs. Al-Arian". This award-winning documentary, filmed in Tampa, Florida, by Norwegian film-makers Line Halvorsen chronicles the effects of a terrorism trial on the family of the accused. Please contact Melva Underbakke to schedule a screening in your city. Call (813) 215-3403, or E-mail her at: melvau@earthlink.net.
Dr. Sami Al-Arian Begins Hunger Strike - Muslimah - 09-04-2008
Bismillah
MAS Freedom Rejoices in News of Dr. Sami Al-Arian's Release on Bail
Alhamdulelah
WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) Sept. 2, 2008 - MAS Freedom (MASF), the civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim American Society (MAS), rejoices with the family of Dr. Sami Al-Arian on learning that earlier today, as a result of the recently filed Habeas Corpus Petition challenging his continued detention, and the government's subsequent failure to justify their position, Virginia's U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema has released Dr. Al-Arian on bail.
"MAS Freedom, and many other organizations and individuals, have been working a long time for this day, and we hope that Dr. Al-Arian's release initiates the vindication process in the tragic miscarriage of justice that has been inflicted on Dr. Al-Arian and his family," stated MAS Freedom Executive Director, Mahdi Bray.
"We are truly grateful to Allah (swt) that Dr. Al-Arian and his family will be reunited in this blessed month of Ramadan," Bray added.
Dr. Al-Arian's original sentence -which the government had willfully extended for over a year beyond the original release date- ended on April 11 of this year, at which point Dr. Al-Arian was transferred to the jurisdiction of ICE for deportation. Shortly thereafter, the US Attorney's office indicted Dr. Al-Arian on two counts of criminal contempt for failing to testify in an unrelated case. Despite the fact that Judge Brinkema had ordered Dr. Al-Arian released on bail July 10, and again reaffirmed this decision on August 8, ICE has brazenly ignored the judge's pronouncement. The motion by Professor Jonathan Turley and attorneys William Olson and P.J. Meitl states:
"Dr. Al-Arian has been held well past the ninety day period allowed under the statue [which allows ICE to hold immigrants up to ninety days while completing deportation procedures]. In fact, as of the date of this filing, Dr. Al-Arian has been held by ICE for 130 days. Dr. Al-Arian has not been removed and continues to languish in detention. Dr. Al-Arian's removal to Egypt is not significantly likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future, given the pending criminal charges against him and the pattern of behavior already demonstrated by ICE individuals. The Supreme Court held in Zadvydas and Clark v Martinez 543 US 371 (2005) that ICE's continued detention of someone like Dr. Al-Arian is unlawful. ICE must release Dr. Al-Arian on conditions similar to those imposed by Judge Brinkema until his deportation is reasonably foreseeable."
The motion also stated that, "Continued detention serves no governmental purpose other than those of a punitive nature."
In a prior statement made by a Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace official stated, "A crucial factor in the issuance of Judge Brinkema's original order for bail was the heartfelt and beautifully articulated letters sent in by dozens of friends and acquaintances of the Al-Arian family. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to everyone who took the time to write those letters, and to those of you who have continued to support Dr. Al-Arian and his family in these critical times. Your support DOES make a difference."
After 12 years of surveillance and a lengthy trial in his home town of Tampa, Florida-Dr. Al-Arian has yet to be convicted of a single charge brought against him. "We have been advocating for the release of Dr. Al-Arian throughout his ordeal and will not rest until justice is served," Bray concluded.
To learn more about how you can continue to support Dr. Al-Arian and his family please visit http://www.freesaminow.com.
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MAS Freedom (MASF) is a civic and human rights advocacy entity and sister organization of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the largest Muslim, grassroots, charitable, religious, social, cultural, civic and educational organization in America - with 55 chapters in 35 states. Learn more here - to donate click here.
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