Dr. Sami al-Arian Hunger Strike

WHAT YOU CAN DO

WRITE LETTERS IN SUPPORT OF DR. AL-ARIAN
Imprisoned Florida professor collapses on 23rd day of hunger strike

(WASHINGTON D.C., 2/15/07) – The Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) is calling on American Muslims and other people of
conscience to write letters in support of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a
former Florida professor currently on a hunger strike in federal
detention to protest his treatment by U.S. authorities.

Family members report that Al-Arian collapsed on the 23rd day of his
fast and has been moved from Virginia to a medical facility in North
Carolina.

Al-Arian began his hunger strike more than three weeks ago after
being given a sentence of up to 18 months for refusing to testify
before a grand jury in Virginia. His attorneys say an earlier plea
agreement freed him from further cooperation with the government.
Supporters say the government’s actions amount to a form of
harassment.

In 2005, a Florida jury rejected federal charges that Al-Arian
operated a cell for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian later
pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was scheduled for release and
deportation in April.

The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a
national coalition of major American Muslim organizations, recently
said the new prison sentence given to Al-Arian amounted to
unconstitutional “double jeopardy.”

The AMT statement said in part:

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the government is seeking to
impose legal and physical penalties on Dr. Al-Arian that it could
not obtain through the judicial process. . .We call on all fair-
minded Americans who care about the preservation of the integrity of
our nation’s legal system to speak out about this apparent abuse of
prosecutorial power. We also call on federal authorities to cease
their harassment of Dr. Al-Arian and to release him as scheduled so
that he and his family can resume their lives in another country.”

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be firm, but POLITE.)

1. CONTACT the following officials to request that Dr. Sami Al-Arian
be released from detention and allowed to leave the country with his
family. (Make sure to include your name, address and ZIP Code in the
letter)

The Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square
Alexandria, VA 22314

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Fax: (202) 307-6777
E-Mail: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Comments: 202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-Mail: comments@whitehouse.gov

Sample Letter:

Dr. Sami Al-Arian is currently on a hunger strike in federal
detention to protest his treatment by U.S. authorities. Family
members report that Al-Arian collapsed on the 23rd day of his fast
and has been moved from Virginia to a medical facility in North
Carolina. He began his hunger strike more than three weeks ago after
being given a sentence of up to 18 months for refusing to testify
before a grand jury in Virginia. His attorneys say an earlier plea
agreement freed him from further cooperation and that the
government’s actions amount to a form of harassment. I therefore
respectfully request that you support the immediate release of Dr.
Al-Arian so that he and his family may resume their lives in another
country.

2. CONTACT your own elected representatives through:
http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/

3. SEND COPIES of all correspondence to CAIR at: info@cair.com or
fax: 202-488-0833

4. COPY TO Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee. E-Mail: john.conyers@mail.house.gov or fax:
(202) 225-0072

———-

Al-Arian transferred to prison hospital amid 24-day hunger strike

MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer

(AP) – McLEAN, Virginia

A former university professor who pleaded guilty last year to supporting a Palestinian terror group was transferred to a medical prison Wednesday as he entered the fourth week of a hunger strike.

Sami al-Arian, 49, began the hunger strike Jan. 22 to protest efforts to force him to testify in front of a grand jury investigating a group of Muslim charities in Virginia. He said a plea bargain with U.S. prosecutors last year frees him from any obligation to cooperate with the government.

Nikki Credic, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said prison officials have been monitoring his health daily.

Prosecutors obtained a court order late last week approving the transfer, al-Arian’s lawyer said, adding that the real motivation may have been to move al-Arian to a more isolated location.

Al-Arian’s daughter Laila said her father fainted and hit his head Tuesday, and that he has lost 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms) since beginning the hunger strike, during which he is only drinking four glasses of water a day.

“We’re definitely worried about him, but we respect why he chose to go on a hunger strike,” she said. “You understand it when you sort of feel like you’re cornered and you feel like the legal system is failing you.”

Al-Arian was a prominent Palestinian activist who met with U.S. President George W. Bush and other political leaders in the years before he was charged.

Al-Arian has said he believes the effort to bring him in front of the grand jury is merely a trap by an overzealous U.S. prosecutor.

“I think it’s just a pretext to hold me either in contempt or charge me with perjury, because whatever I’m going to say, they’re going to say, ‘You lied,'” al-Arian said in a jailhouse interview earlier this month with Democracy Now!, an independent media outlet.

But two U.S. judges have sided with prosecutors and said al-Arian must testify.

Because a judge has found al-Arian in contempt, every day he serves on the contempt charge extends his release date on a 57-month prison term handed down as part the plea for providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Prosecutors had sought to prove al-Arian was a leader of PIJ, a terrorist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel. <strong>The trial ended with acquittal on some charges and a hung jury on the rest.</strong>

Al-Arian’s lawyer, Peter Erlinder, said his client’s fear of a perjury trap is valid given the aggressive tactics employed by federal prosecutors in Alexandria, who have handled numerous high-profile terrorism cases in recent years.

Just two weeks ago, prosecutors won a perjury conviction against Sabri Benkahla, 31.

Benkahla had been one of just two defendants to win acquittal among more than a dozen who faced terror-related charges at the Alexandria courthouse since Sept. 11, 2001. Shortly after his acquittal in 2004, prosecutors said he lied in grand jury testimony about his training with a Pakistani militant group and charged him with perjury. He now faces up to 25 years in prison.

The civil contempt sentence al-Arian is now serving could run through June, or until the judge decides that further incarceration is unlikely to coerce al-Arian’s testimony. But even then, prosecutors can seek another six-month term if they extend the grand jury and subpoena al-Arian again.

“It just feels like an endless nightmare,” Laila al-Arian said. “It feels like purgatory.”