Sami Al-Arian

ASSOCIATED PRESS March 5, 2009 By MATTHEW BARAKAT   McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have defied a judge’s order to turn over evidence of their internal The government’s decision raises the possibility that U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema will toss out a criminal contempt case against Sami al-Arian, who[Read More…]

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES March 6, 2009 By MEG LAUGHLIN For the first time, federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va., have acknowledged that when Sami Al-Arian took a plea deal in early 2006, federal prosecutors in Tampa believed — as did Al-Arian — that it exempted him from testifying in other cases.[Read More…]

But, while U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with Al-Arian that such prosecutions are “rare” and that the facts of his case are “absolutely unique,” the judge said a jury would have to decide if Al-Arian committed a crime.
According to federal prosecutors in Virginia, the criminal contempt charge stems from Al-Arian’s refusal to testify before a grand jury about the actions of a Virginia think tank, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Over 16 years ago, the think tank gave $50,000 to WISE (World and Islam Studies Enterprise), a former think tank on Middle Eastern issues at the University of South Florida, run by Al-Arian. Federal prosecutors want Al-Arian to testify about the details of that transaction.
But, according to documents filed by Al-Arian’s attorneys, Al-Arian “did cooperate and answer questions on IIIT” for federal prosecutors, which shows, wrote the defense attorneys, that the Virginia prosecutors are “ultimately not interested in IIIT … but want to revisit the Tampa trial.”The Tampa trial ended in December 2005 when a jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight terrorism charges, some related to the finan cial transactions of WISE, and deadlocked on nine other charges, 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.

By Tom Jackman

A federal judge in Alexandria ruled yesterday that she would not throw out contempt-of-court charges against former professor Sami al-Arian, who has refused to cooperate with a terrorism investigation, and set his case for trial on March 9.

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said that Arian can use the defense that he was relying on the advice of his attorneys when he declined to testify before grand juries investigating whether Muslim groups in Herndon were financing terrorism in the Middle East.

“We are very gratified by Judge Brinkema’s rulings with regard to the trial,” said Jonathan Turley, one of Arian’s attorneys. “We look forward to putting Dr. al-Arian’s case in front of the jury.”

The Hague, Holland – December 10, 2008 – This week, Dr. Sami Al-Arian released the following statement to be read before the broadcast of the award-winning Norwegian-produced documentary USA v. Al-Arian on the Greek television network ERT.

Alexandria, VA – December 9, 2008 – Late last week, the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent a letter to Dr. Al-Arian’s counsel regarding its 18-month-long investigation regarding allegations that Dr. Al-Arian had been mistreated and abused by officers from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The letter[Read More…]