his sentence unjustly prolonged any day now.
*The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
has come out with a gripping new YouTube video
summarizing this case as well as a new press release
(see below).
Visit http://petition.freesaminow.com to make your voice heard.
Shocking tale of the first major test-case of the PATRIOT Act.
An embarrassed Justice Department is still trying to keep
Dr. Sami Al-Arian in jail despite being acquitted of charges.
Yes this film is playing worldwide! http://www.usavsalarian.com
for location and times
Please watch the video, mark it as your favorite, and share
it with all your friends, family, and colleagues.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
John Halliwell
Moderator
Sami Al-Arian Action Committee
PRESS RELEASE
Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
April 2, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
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
/April_2007
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
I hope that he is granted the justice he so rightfully deserves as soon as possible. Thank you for posting this.
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