Review of "USA vs. Al-Arian"

By Courtney Price

Thirteen-year-old Lama Al-Arian knows what is so special about a "contact visit." It means she gets to see her father without a pane of glass separating them.

It was her last chance to have such a visit before going to live with her grandmother in Egypt. Her family was sending her there in order to spare her the trouble the rest of them would face in the upcoming months.

But unfortunately for Lama, the authorities did not allow her to hug her father.

This is just one of the heart-wrenching traumas the Al-Arian family of seven experiences at the hands of the American justice system in Line Halvorsen's USA VS AL-ARIAN.

An award-winning filmmaker, Halvorsen records the Arab-American family's journey during the trial of their father Sami Al-Arian, charged with assisting foreign terrorist organizations.

A Palestinian refugee, Sami came to America in 1975 to pursue the American dream. He became a successful professor and vocalized the plight of his people as a Palestinian rights and peace activist. It is this fight for Palestinian recognition that garners the attention of authorities who arrest Sami under charges of assisting the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. Direct links to this group are never made clear as the prosecutors seek to make an example of this man while subverting the principles of the American justice system in the process.

"I understand that they felt they had to do something [in reaction to the] shock and fear," says Halvorsen. "They had to make the country safe, but what we need to look at now is – are the laws implemented making them safer?"

Halvorsen became interested in these issues after living in the West Bank and moving to America. At the screening of her last film, A STONE'S THROW AWAY, a chance meeting with Nahla, the matriarch of the Al-Arian family, sparked Halvorsen's interest in Sami's case. She was only familiar with the plight of the Al-Arians from negative media coverage.

"When I met Nahla her story was completely different than what I had heard," says Halvorsen. "She's very charismatic, friendly and intelligent, but also she had gone through a lot and was very frustrated and depressed. The family had very little access to him sometimes for six months at a time. Even convicted murderers got contact time."

After spending two and a half years awaiting trial, Sami appeared in court to defend himself from the sweeping measures enacted after September 11, 2001 that were intended to make American society safer.

"The Patriot Act opens up the possibility to spy on their citizens," says Halvorsen. "It is such an infringement on people's civil liberties. When I went to the States I was quite surprised. I met a lot of people who are afraid and intimidated to speak out and say what they think… I think it is really through the PA that we see what they are doing to fundamental privacy protection. I think it can create another McCarthy era."

Throughout the film, the Al-Arian family perseveres by way of the media attention and an exhausting and seemingly endless court fight. The family's tribulations leave them tattered but they continue in the faith that they will see Sami as a free man.

While accused of bias, the film personalizes the rhetoric of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and U.S. President Bush, and gives a face to the controversial Patriot Act, highlighting the contradictions in the policies that have seen over 6000 people arrested as terrorist suspects.

"Of course it is biased," says Halvorsen. "It is a personal story seen through the eyes of a family, but it is not biased on the facts. You give the government a voice in the film, but here is a man found not guilty and he is still harassed by the justice system. I hope the film will make people aware of the faces behind the headlines and the cases behind the laws."