[Ppnews] Al-Arian Files Habeas for Release

[Political Prisoner News]

Al-Arian Files Habeas for Release

By <http://www.nysun.com/authors/Josh+Gerstein>JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff 
Reporter of the Sun | August 27, 2008
<http://www.nysun.com/national/al-arian-files-habeas-for-release/84744/>http://www.nysun.com/national/al-arian-files-habeas-for-release/84744/

A Palestinian Arab activist and former college professor who has been 
in federal custody since 2003, Sami Al-Arian, is pressing a new 
habeas corpus petition arguing that he is being illegally detained by 
immigration officials.

Lawyers for Al-Arian filed the petition for a habeas writ in federal 
court in 
<http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Alexandria+%28Virginia%29>Alexandria, 
Va. on Monday, according to records reviewed by The New York Sun. The 
pleading represents the newest chapter in a Byzantine series of legal 
proceedings involving the Kuwaiti-born Al-Arian, who was a leading 
political organizer for the Palestinian community in America before 
he was indicted in 2003 on charges that he served as a top official 
of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

"The respondents have no interest that justify an indefinite 
detention of Dr. Al-Arian," Al-Arian's lawyers, Jonathan Turley, P.J. 
Meitl, and William Olson, wrote. "Continued detention serves no 
governmental purpose other than those of a punitive nature."

The habeas petition argues that the Department of Homeland Security's 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau is not moving 
expeditiously to deport Al-Arian, who agreed to leave America in 
connection with his guilty plea in 2006 to one felony count of 
providing assistance to the Islamic Jihad group. The plea followed a 
six-month long trial which ended in disappointment for the government 
when Al-Arian was acquitted on some charges while jurors could not 
agree on others.

Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison for aiding PIJ. Taking 
account of time served, he was expected to be released and deported 
last year. However, his sentence was put on hold for about a year 
after the former University of South Florida computer engineering 
professor was held in contempt of court for refusing to testify 
before federal grand juries investigating a Virginia-based think 
tank, the International Institute for Islamic Thought. Al-Arian 
argued that his plea deal absolved him from having to testify, but a 
series of courts rejected that argument.

The contempt citation expired in December and Al-Arian returned to 
serving his criminal sentence, which ran out in April. After that, 
Al-Arian was transferred to immigration officials' custody to await 
deportation. However, in June, Al-Arian was indicted on two counts of 
criminal contempt stemming from his refusal to testify before grand 
juries investigating IIIT.

The government's present predicament arose last month, when Judge 
Leonie Brinkema ruled that Al-Arian was entitled to be released on 
bond in the criminal contempt case, on the condition that he be under 
house arrest, GPS monitoring, and in the care of one of his children. 
He was quickly placed in immigration custody, but the legal authority 
for protracted detention of an immigrant the government is not 
seeking to deport is murky, unless the immigrant is a threat to the community.

Al-Arian's petition argues that under federal law and a 2001 Supreme 
Court decision, Zavydas v. Davis, he cannot be held for more than 90 
days when his deportation is not reasonably foreseeable. The petition 
includes a copy of an Egyptian travel document for Palestinian 
refugees that would allow Al-Arian to travel to Egypt to join his 
wife and some of his children who moved there after his guilty plea. 
However, Al-Arian's lawyers says it is evident the government is not 
really seeking to deport him since it is seeking his trial, 
conviction and imprisonment for criminal contempt.

The habeas petition names Attorney General Mukasey, the secretary of 
homeland security, Michael Chertoff, and a local immigration 
official, Deborah Achim, as those responsible for Al-Arian's illegal 
incarceration. The case was assigned to Judge Liam O'Grady. As of 
this writing, no hearing had been scheduled.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ernestine 
Fobbs, had no immediate comment on the new legal action.

Al-Arian was set to go to trial this month on the criminal contempt 
case, but Judge Brinkema put that off until the Supreme Court acts on 
a petition Al-Arian has filed challenging the court rulings 
interpreting his plea agreement. It will likely be October or later 
before the justices take action on Al-Arian's request.




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