Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
April 2, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk
www.freesaminow.com
To Protest Indefinite Detention, Sami Al-Arian on Hunger Strike
New YouTube video describes his case, highlights his plight
The Department of Justice under the Bush administration
continues to manipulate the legal system to keep
Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely.
Sami Al-Arian, a computer engineering professor
from Tampa, Florida, was arrested on charges of
supporting a designated terrorist organization in
2003. Al-Arian proclaimed his innocence and
maintained the charges were purely political.
Almost three years later, a federal jury reached
that same conclusion. Al-Arian was acquitted of the
most serious charges against him following a six-month
trial in 2005. The jury voted 10 to 2 for acquittal on the
remaining charges. Dr. Al-Arian, to end his legal
nightmare, then signed a plea bargain with the
government that stated he would be released and
deported as soon as possible. During the negotiations
for the plea bargain, the government agreed to a
stipulation by Dr. Al-Arian that he would not be called
upon to testify in any other trial. The prosecutors
accordingly removed the cooperation clause that is
standard in plea agreements in the Middle District
of Florida.
In total defiance of this agreement, a federal
prosecutor from Virginia, Gordon Kromberg, has been
trying for two years to force Al-Arian to testify before grand
juries in an unrelated case. A judge announced on March
3rd, only weeks before Al-Arian's scheduled release date,
that he would be summoned before a third grand jury.
While Virginia prosecutors did not deny the understanding
of no-cooperation, they claimed that the absence of an
explicit clause exempting Dr. Al-Arian from testimony
allowed them to continue trying to force his testimony.
Dr. Al-Arian, who is diabetic, began a hunger strike on
March 3rd, his third since he his arrest five years ago,
to protest this continued government harassment. He has
since lost more than 30 pounds and has grown considerably
weaker. Al-Arian's hunger strike is his last recourse against
the Bush administration's manipulation of the grand jury
system to convict him.
The true motives of the prosecutor in this case are
clear: U.S. Attorney Kromberg has made outrageously
bigoted statements against Muslims:
http://www.washington-report.org/
archives/April_2007/0704030.html
Kromberg has publicly stated that he believes in punishing by
"other means" those he thinks are guilty but who were
acquitted in court. He successfully engineered the
perjury conviction of Sabri ben Kahla, another American
Muslim acquitted of terrorism charges who now faces ten
years in prison.
This is the Catch-22 of Sami Al-Arian: either he testifies
and is charged and sentenced with perjury, or he refuses to
testify and is found in criminal contempt. On March 20th,
Dr. Al-Arian was brought before the third grand jury, where
he refused to testify. Any day now, he may be charged and
tried for criminal contempt and sentenced to a minimum of
five years.
This case is a travesty of the American justice system.
To raise your voice against this, please sign the petition in
support of Dr. Al-Arian (petition.freesaminow.com).
For a summary of this case, please watch the
newly-made gripping YouTube video based on the
critically-acclaimed documentary USA vs. Al-Arian at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk.
April 2, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk
www.freesaminow.com
To Protest Indefinite Detention, Sami Al-Arian on Hunger Strike
New YouTube video describes his case, highlights his plight
The Department of Justice under the Bush administration
continues to manipulate the legal system to keep
Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely.
Sami Al-Arian, a computer engineering professor
from Tampa, Florida, was arrested on charges of
supporting a designated terrorist organization in
2003. Al-Arian proclaimed his innocence and
maintained the charges were purely political.
Almost three years later, a federal jury reached
that same conclusion. Al-Arian was acquitted of the
most serious charges against him following a six-month
trial in 2005. The jury voted 10 to 2 for acquittal on the
remaining charges. Dr. Al-Arian, to end his legal
nightmare, then signed a plea bargain with the
government that stated he would be released and
deported as soon as possible. During the negotiations
for the plea bargain, the government agreed to a
stipulation by Dr. Al-Arian that he would not be called
upon to testify in any other trial. The prosecutors
accordingly removed the cooperation clause that is
standard in plea agreements in the Middle District
of Florida.
In total defiance of this agreement, a federal
prosecutor from Virginia, Gordon Kromberg, has been
trying for two years to force Al-Arian to testify before grand
juries in an unrelated case. A judge announced on March
3rd, only weeks before Al-Arian's scheduled release date,
that he would be summoned before a third grand jury.
While Virginia prosecutors did not deny the understanding
of no-cooperation, they claimed that the absence of an
explicit clause exempting Dr. Al-Arian from testimony
allowed them to continue trying to force his testimony.
Dr. Al-Arian, who is diabetic, began a hunger strike on
March 3rd, his third since he his arrest five years ago,
to protest this continued government harassment. He has
since lost more than 30 pounds and has grown considerably
weaker. Al-Arian's hunger strike is his last recourse against
the Bush administration's manipulation of the grand jury
system to convict him.
The true motives of the prosecutor in this case are
clear: U.S. Attorney Kromberg has made outrageously
bigoted statements against Muslims:
http://www.washington-report.org/
archives/April_2007/0704030.html
Kromberg has publicly stated that he believes in punishing by
"other means" those he thinks are guilty but who were
acquitted in court. He successfully engineered the
perjury conviction of Sabri ben Kahla, another American
Muslim acquitted of terrorism charges who now faces ten
years in prison.
This is the Catch-22 of Sami Al-Arian: either he testifies
and is charged and sentenced with perjury, or he refuses to
testify and is found in criminal contempt. On March 20th,
Dr. Al-Arian was brought before the third grand jury, where
he refused to testify. Any day now, he may be charged and
tried for criminal contempt and sentenced to a minimum of
five years.
This case is a travesty of the American justice system.
To raise your voice against this, please sign the petition in
support of Dr. Al-Arian (petition.freesaminow.com).
For a summary of this case, please watch the
newly-made gripping YouTube video based on the
critically-acclaimed documentary USA vs. Al-Arian at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk.
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