October 8, 2004

What the Media Missed in the New Indictment

On Sept. 21, 2004, the government released a superseding indictment in its allegations against Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a respected Palestinian American professor, civil rights activist, and leader in the American Muslim community.

In their coverage of the updated indictment, there are a number of important facts that the media overlooked:

· A total of 17 charges against Dr. Al-Arian were dropped: counts 5-9, 11-15, 18-20, 25-28.

These counts ranged from charges of receiving military reports, to fundraising and attempts to procure urea. In 9 of the counts, the government previously alleged that the phone intercepts took place at phone numbers that belonged to Dr. Al-Arian. It turned out that none of the phone numbers belonged to him, nor had he ever had any access to them.

· Over 30 overt acts have been omitted.

Some of these overt acts were emphasized during the bail hearing, as well as in the search warrant as evidence. For instance, Overt Act 99 in the previous indictment claimed that Dr. Al-Arian sent a note to the “treasurer of the PIJ” requesting funds because the situation in Tampa was difficult. Upon close examination, the individual that the government claimed to be a PIJ treasurer was in fact a close business associate of Dr. Al-Arian living in a completely different country.

The government claimed in the indictment and the prosecution emphasized (as did an FBI agent in a sworn affidavit) that Dr. Al-Arian had a bank account at Bank Leumi in Israel (Overt Acts 18, 19). These claims were quietly withdrawn in the new indictment.

Several weeks ago, Dr. Al-Arian's defense team provided the court with evidence that demonstrated a startling example of the government's sloppy translation. Pertaining to Overt Act 239 of the previous indictment, defense attorneys pointed to two separate government translations of a telephone call involving Dr. Al-Arian and another individual. One of the translations was a verbatim rendering of the conversation, while the other was an editorialized summary, which was completely opposite of what the verbatim translation had stated. The government utilized the erroneous summary in forming its allegations.

· Politically loaded syntax: Another illuminating example of the zealotry and bias on the part of the prosecution team is their characterization of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the earlier indictment, they referred to these areas as “occupied territories.” They defined the occupied territories on page 3 as the geographical areas of the West Bank and Gaza and provided a map. However, the new indictment totally omitted the word “occupied.” In dozens of references where the indictment earlier referred to “occupied territories,” the new indictment just called them “the territories.” By not acknowledging that they are occupied, they blindly adhere to the illegitimate definition and characterization of the Israeli government.

· Misidentifications: In many instances, the government misidentified a number of people. For instance, the name of Dr. Al-Arian in the earlier indictment was replaced by someone else: (see overt acts 145 A, 145B, 146, 148, 149, 152A, 152B, 153A, 153B, 160, 167, 178 of the old indictment). In all of these overt acts, Dr. Al-Arian’s name was omitted while in 30 other overt acts, the whole overt act was omitted.

· The Mazen Al-Najjar element: The indictment of Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar is a ploy and an attempt to delegitimize the noble struggle against the use of secret evidence.

· Dr. Al-Najjar was deported on Aug. 22, 2002, while the grand jury was convening. If he were a target, he would not have been allowed to leave.

·The Patriot Act had already been in effect since Oct. 2001. So it cannot be legitimately argued that they needed more power to pursue him.

·There is absolutely nothing in the indictment that the prosecutors did not know five years ago, let alone before he was deported. As his former Attorney David Cole said, considering everything Dr. Al-Najjar has endured, this new development is “adding insult to injury.”

·Dr. Al-Najjar was a victim of unfair government persecution, having spent 4 years and 7 months in prison without justification, and he’s now a victim of malicious attempts to defame his reputation and justify his suffering, as well as to cover the sloppy work of the old indictment.

Conclusion: Dr. Sami Al-Arian’s family and defense team firmly believe that he will be exonerated of all charges against him and that the political nature of this case will be totally exposed if a fair trial is afforded him. In the meantime, the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace asks members of the media to cover this case just as they would any other story, with balance and objectivity. Finally, we stress that Dr. Al-Arian should be allowed to stay in Tampa, where he is currently examining evidence in his case and where his family is located. With only three months left until his trial is scheduled to begin and considering that the government released a new indictment after waiting for 18 months, a fair trial demands no less.