<html>
<body>
<font size=3>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/colson03242009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/colson03242009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">March 24,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>End of a Witch
Hunt? <br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">Is
Justice Finally in Sight for Sami Al-Arian?
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By NICOLE
COLSON <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">S</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>upporters of Dr. Sami Al-Arian are cautiously
optimistic after several court hearings where the government was left
scrambling to justify its continued campaign of persecution.<br><br>
Al-Arian is the former University of South Florida professor accused
after September 11 by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft of providing
"material support to terrorists," largely due to his outspoken
defense of Palestinian rights.<br><br>
Arrested in 2003, Al-Arian went on trial in late 2005 on charges that he
used an Islamic think tank and a Muslim school and charity as a cover for
raising funds to finance "terrorism." In 2006, after a
six-month trial costing taxpayers a reported $50 million, a Florida jury
refused to find Al-Arian guilty on a single one of the 17 counts he was
charged with. The jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight charges, including the
most serious, and deadlocked on nine others; 10 of 12 jurors reportedly
favored acquittal on all counts.<br><br>
With prosecutors threatening a retrial, Al-Arian--who had already spent
years in prison away from his wife and children, and had legal fees
totaling more than $1 million--agreed to plead guilty to a single count
of the least serious charge against him, in exchange for what was
supposed to be a short sentence added to the time he had already been
behind bars, plus voluntary deportation.<br><br>
But the nightmare was only beginning. Against even government
prosecutors' recommendations, Judge James Moody sentenced Al-Arian to the
maximum allowable sentence.<br><br>
Then, while Al-Arian was still incarcerated, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Gordon Kromberg had Al-Arian transferred to Virginia to force him to
testify as a material witness in an investigation into a Muslim charity
there--in defiance of an agreement with Florida prosecutors, recorded in
court transcripts, that Al-Arian would be exempt from future
testimony.<br><br>
For Al-Arian, it was a no-win situation. Refusing to testify brought
first civil, and then criminal contempt charges upon him. But had he
testified, it is likely that prosecutors would have tried to charge him
with "perjury" and continued his imprisonment anyway.<br><br>
While in prison, Al-Arian has faced physical and verbal abuse, and racism
from prison guards.<br><br>
Kromberg himself made his anti-Muslim prejudice known in court. As
Al-Arian's daughter, journalist Laila Al-Arian, said in a <i>Socialist
Worker</i> interview:</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd><font face="Verdana" size=2>To describe where [Kromberg's] coming
from, he's blogged about trips he's taken to Israel and his fear of
Palestinians. He's made anti-Arab and anti-Muslim statements on the
record that he's never apologized for. During one trial in Virginia, he
said "all Arabs lie"--that's what he told the jury--and he said
"don't believe anything they tell you."<br><br>
<dd>This is a person with a lot of power and authority. Not to say that
he's the only one driving the ship--I think his bosses are supporting
what he's doing. But we know Kromberg wasn't happy with the Florida
jury's verdict, and this was his way of trying to retry the case in
Virginia. <br><br>
</dl>At one point, Kromberg objected to defense attorney requests that
Al-Arian not be transferred to another prison during the Muslim religious
holidays of Ramadan. Kromberg reportedly said, "If [Muslims] 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."<br><br>
And in August, when Al-Arian was finally ordered released into his
daughter's custody on bail while awaiting trial on contempt charges,
Kromberg objected, claiming that, as a Muslim woman, Laila Al-Arian would
be too weak and submissive to oppose any potential attempt by Dr.
Al-Arian to flee.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">* * * <br><br>
</font>DESPITE THE protracted government witch-hunt against him, a
campaign of support, led by the Al-Arian family and the Tampa Bay
Coalition for Justice and Peace (TBCJP), has helped publicize the
injustice of the case.<br><br>
Although Al-Arian's initial prison sentence ended in April 2007, and his
sentence for civil contempt ended in April 2008, the government has
fought to keep him behind bars on charges of criminal contempt. But to
judge from recent court hearings, Kromberg may have over-reached in his
attempts to keep Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely.<br><br>
Last fall, despite Kromberg's strenuous objections (and attempts to
subvert her order), Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered Al-Arian released on
bail, and openly questioned whether prosecutors had been overzealous in
filing additional charges, and if the criminal contempt charges
themselves were a violation of the terms of Al-Arian's plea
agreement.<br><br>
In February, when Brinkema repeatedly ordered Florida prosecutors and
Justice Department officials to provide affidavits regarding the promises
made to Al-Arian in his original plea bargain negotiations, Kromberg's
office ignored the orders three separate times, arguing that such
knowledge was "irrelevant."<br><br>
Brinkema disagreed, saying she doesn't think "the Department of
Justice can compartmentalize itself...This is not one U.S. Attorney's
Office versus another...You have the United States Department of
Justice...involved at both ends."<br><br>
As the TBCJP reported, the filing that Kromberg's office did submit
revealed just how split the Justice Department may have been over the
case. According to TBCJP, the filing acknowledged that:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>--Prosecutors in Virginia began the process of compelling Dr.
Al-Arian's appearance before a grand jury in the midst of the plea
negotiations in early 2006.<br><br>
<dd>--Prosecutors from Florida and the Department of Justice who were
involved in the negotiations objected to this move by Kromberg.<br><br>
<dd>--Virginia prosecutors conceded that, following the plea
negotiations, both the defense and prosecution expected that Dr. Al-Arian
would be sentenced to time served and immediately deported.<br><br>
<dd>--Virginia prosecutors then exploited the fact that the judge in
Florida gave Dr. Al-Arian the maximum sentence despite the government's
recommendation of time served. They pressed for the grand jury appearance
even though the cooperation clause was explicitly removed from the plea
agreement.<br><br>
</dl>In other words, Kromberg's own filing suggests he has been engaged
in a campaign of persecution against Al-Arian, even when it meant
overriding the objections of other Justice Department officials.<br><br>
<font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">* * * <br><br>
</font>IN THE most recent hearing on March 9, Kromberg argued for the
fourth time that Al-Arian's 2006 plea agreement is irrelevant to the
criminal contempt charges--despite Judge Brinkema's repeated
rulings.<br><br>
In a positive sign, Brinkema then opened the door to a possible dismissal
of the case--giving Al-Arian's defense lawyers 10 days to file for
dismissal on the grounds that prosecutors failed to keep their promises
under the plea bargain. After the defense files its motion for dismissal,
prosecutors will have 10 days to respond.<br><br>
According to the Associated Press, Judge Brinkema "acknowledged that
the protections Al-Arian wants enforced may not have been explicitly
outlined in the original agreement," but she added that she felt the
Justice Department may have duped Al-Arian into accepting the
deal.<br><br>
"I think there's something more important here, and that's the
integrity of the Justice Department," Brinkema said.<br><br>
According to the Associated Press, "Brinkema has presided over
several terrorism trials, and in recent years has frequently expressed
frustration that the government has been untruthful in its dealings with
her. She at one point threatened to toss out the government's death
penalty case against September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, but
later relented."<br><br>
While Brinkema's latest ruling is a welcome one, the fight for justice
for Sami Al-Arian is far from over.<br><br>
In the more than seven long years since his ordeal began, Dr. Al-Arian
has spent much of that time in jail and on trial, separated from his wife
and children, faced with massive legal fees and held hostage to the whims
of a racist zealot of a prosecutor. No matter what happens from here on
out, this can't be called "justice."<br><br>
Public support for Al-Arian will continue to be crucial in the weeks to
come. As he wrote in a message to supporters when he was finally released
on bail in September, "My thanks go to those in all corners of the
globe who have campaigned for my case and for other prisoners of
conscience. It takes courage and principle to stand up for justice at a
time when fear often trumps rationality and fairness."<br><br>
Nicole Colson</b> writes for the
<a href="http://www.socialistworker.org">Socialist Worker</a>. <br><br>
<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>