Prof on hunger strike over `harassment' (Sami al Arian)

[Scurrilous]

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"A former college professor who pleaded guilty to aiding a Palestinian terrorist group has begun a hunger strike to protest ''continued government harassment,'' according to his supporters.

Sami al Arian began the strike after being held in contempt for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia, the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace said in a news release Tuesday.

Al Arian claims he is surrounded by rats and cockroaches in prison and is forced to wear dirty and inadequate clothing.

Al Arian, who has less than 18 months left on a 57-month sentence for aiding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad with nonviolent activities, was found guilty of contempt in November in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

Attorneys for the former University of South Florida professor contend that the terms of his plea agreement freed him from further cooperation with the government. But a federal judge disagreed. An appeal has been filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16534079.htm


Al-Arian: I Was Double-Crossed

January 22, 2007

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"A Florida college professor who has pleaded guilty to aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami Al-Arian, contends in a new appeals court filing that federal prosecutors double-crossed him by calling him in front of a grand jury in Virginia after he agreed to a plea bargain.

If the Kuwaiti-born Al-Arian prevails before the 11th Circuit, he could be released from prison and deported as soon as April. If the government's position is upheld, the former University of South Florida computer-engineering professor's stay in American jails could be extended by 18 months or more.

In April 2006, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide assistance to a designated terrorist group. His guilty plea followed a lengthy trial in Tampa in 2005 that ended with his acquittal on eight counts and jurors deadlocked on nine others.

The prosecution and defense proposed a 46-month prison term for Al-Arian, which amounted to little more than the time he served before, during, and after his trial. However, Judge James Moody Jr. gave Al-Arian 57 months, the maximum under federal guidelines.

Soon after that unexpectedly lengthy sentence was handed down, a federal prosecutor in Virginia, Gordon Kromberg, began proceedings to summon Al-Arian before a grand jury investigating a Herndon, Va.-based think tank, the International Institute of Islamic Thought. Al-Arian moved to quash his subpoena, arguing that the plea deal with prosecutors in Florida relieved him from having to testify. Al-Arian appealed after Judge Moody rejected that argument, noting that the plea deal filed in court did not address the issue."

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