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From: "tampabayjustice" <tampabayjustice@yahoo.com><br>
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:07:59 -0000<br>
Subject: Justice Department Calls Dr. Al-Arian Before Third Grand
Jury<br><br>
<br>
Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace<br>
March 3, 2008<br><br>
ARLINGTON -- During a hearing in Virginia this morning Dr. Sami Al-Arian
was informed that he will be called to testify before a third grand jury.
Please read the post below (source: Attorney Jonathan Turley's
blog).<br><br>
The Justice Department Calls Dr. Sami Al-Arian Before Third Grand
Jury<br><br>
Since the beginning of civil contempt proceedings against Dr. Sami
Al-Arian, we have been heavily restricted in what we can discuss in
public due to the on-going court sealing of proceedings. Today, however,
the government presented a court order that granted him, again, immunity
to testify and ordered him to appear before another grand jury. The order
effectively strips him of his privilege against self-incrimination and
lays the groundwork for a new civil or criminal contempt
proceeding.<br><br>
Dr. Al-Arian was held for a year on civil contempt for refusing to
cooperate in a grand jury investigation. Under federal rules, the
government is not allowed to use civil contempt confinement against a
witness who clearly will not cooperate. Yet, despite his repeated
refusals and an international campaign supporting his defiance of the
Justice Department, prosecutors insisted that Dr. Al-Arian would break
under pressure as a way to keep him confined.<br><br>
On February 20, 2003, Dr. Al-Arian was arrested and imprisoned based on a
February 19, 2003 indictment filed in the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida. Dr. Al-Arian was charged, along with
various co-defendants, in a 53 count Superseding Indictment on September
21, 2004. On December 6, 2005, after a six month trial in the United
States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Dr. Al-Arian
was acquitted on eight counts and the jury deadlocked on the remaining
nine counts. After the defeat in Florida, the government offered to allow
Dr. Al-Arian to leave the country if he gave them one criminal count in a
plea agreement. From the outset, Dr. Al-Arian made clear to the
government that he would never enter a plea agreement that required his
cooperation in destroying the lives of other people. Given the condition
of deportation and the financial ruin caused to his family, Dr. Al-Arian
refused to cooperate on principle and this was a key element in crafting
the agreement.<br><br>
As a result of these negotiations, Dr. Al-Arian executed a written
agreement on February 28, 2006 that included a guilty plea to Court 4 of
the Superseding Indictment, which carried a guidelines range of 46 to 57
months incarceration. It did not require cooperation. While the
government recommended that Dr. Al-Arian be sentenced to the low end of
the Guidelines (i.e. 46 months), he was sentenced to a 57-month term of
imprisonment on May 1, 2006.<br><br>
Despite the non-cooperation agreement, prosecutors in Virginia set out to
call Dr. Al- Arian to a grand jury in full knowledge that he would refuse
and be held in contempt. On May 10, 2006, ten days after being sentenced
by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida,
the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia
obtained an order immunizing Dr. Al-Arian and compelling his testimony
before the grand jury. It then moved to hold him in civil contempt when
he refused to testify.<br><br>
Dr. Al-Arian continues to seek a judicial order upholding the
non-cooperation agreement before the Eleventh Circuit, which heard oral
argument on Dr. Al-Arian's appeal on September 11, 2007.<br><br>
On January 22, 2007, Dr. Al-Arian began a hunger strike that lasted over
two-months. He lost 55 pounds and was experiencing kidney problems when
he relented to demands from his family to stop the strike. In May 2007,
Dr. Al-Arian was told by the medical staff that he was diagnosed with a
hernia and that surgery is required to correct this condition.<br><br>
Dr. Al-Arian has now outlasted two grand juries. After the court granting
a motion to lift the last contempt order, he began serving the remainder
of his time from the plea agreement. This time was suspended during his
civil contempt period a way of extending his punishment.<br><br>
At today's hearing itself were Professor Turley and Dr. Al-Arian's local
counsel, Will Olson and P.J. Meitl, from the law firm of Bryan
Cave.<br><br>
Professor Turley released the following statement:<br><br>
On behalf of Mr. Olson and Mr. Meitl and the entire legal team, I wanted
to express our great disappointment in the decision of the Justice
Department to continue this effort to mete out punishment that it could
not secure from a jury. Having lost the case in Florida, the Justice
Department has openly sought to extend his confinement by daisy-chaining
grand juries.. As in other cases, the government has given Dr. Al-Arian
the choice of an obvious perjury trap or a contempt sanction. It is a
choice that is obnoxious to our legal system and contrary to any standard
of decency. The mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian remains an international
symbol of how the Bush Administration has discarded fundamental
principles of fairness in a blind pursuit of retribution against this
political activist. We stand committed to fighting this great injustice
and hopefully reuniting Dr. Al- Arian with his family and
friends.<br><br>
Jonathan Turley<br>
Lead Counsel for Dr. Al-Arian<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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