PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY TO DEMAND RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN

Press Release:

Contact: Dowoti Desir,
Executive Director
The Shabazz Center
ddesir@theshabazzce nter.org

Dept. of Justice Must Keep its Promise
to Release Palestinian Professor on Hunger Strike

Press Conference:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
To Demand the Release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian

Who:The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and
Cultural Center, American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights, and the
Council on American Islamic Relations

WHAT: Press Conference to Call for the Release of Hunger Striking
Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian

WHEN: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 11 A.M.

WHERE: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational
Center 3940 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10032 (212) 568.1341

SPEAKERS:
THE HONORABLE RAMSEY CLARK
SARA FLOUNDER,Co- Director, The International Action Center
IMAM SIRAJ WAHAJ
IMAM TALIB ABDUR-RASHID, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, Sr.
HEIDI BOGHOSIAN, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild
ALIYA LATIF, Civil Rights Director Council on American-Islamic Relations

LAILA AL-ARIAN, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian

MALAAK SHABAZZ, Daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz -- Malcolm X

NEW YORK, NY. - Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of Dr.
Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has
been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of
Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is
threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years.
This Tuesday, April 15, at 11 A.M., American Muslim Taskforce on Civil
Rights and Elections, hosted by the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz
Memorial, Educational Center and Cultural Center, will hold a press
conference to demand Dr. Al-Arian's release as promised.

Sami Al-Arian, 50, was a tenured professor of computer engineering at
the University of South Florida. He was arrested in February 2003 with
much fanfare, and charged in a bloated terrorism conspiracy case. A
jury acquitted him of the most serious charges in December 2005.
Under a plea agreement reached in 2006, Dr. Al-Arian should have been
released last April at the latest. By forcing him to testify,
prosecutors are violating that agreement. For more on the case, please
visit www.freesaminow. com

Dr. Al-Arian began a hunger strike on March 3 to protest continued
government harassment. That day, Dr. Al-Arian was informed that he
would be called to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. "The
mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian is part of the overall oppression of the
Palestinian people. This is cruel punishment," said Agha Saeed,
chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and
Elections (AMT). "The government is playing a cat and mouse game with
him. They did not decide to do this until the last minute, just as
he's about to be released. This amounts to psychological torture."

"Malcolm X stated, "Any person who claims to have deep feelings for
other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to
have other men kept behind bars - caged. Behind the bars, a man never
reforms- he can't forget those bars." The past decades have been
marred by the erosion of civil liberties and the systemic silencing
through incarceration, torture, and deportation of non-conformist
voices. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in the Islamic
community are the latest victims of such practices. The continued,
unwarranted incarceration of Dr. Al-Arian is a violation of his human
rights." Dowoti Desir, Executive Director, The Shabazz Center,

If you'd like more information on this topic, please visit
www.freesaminow. com , or to schedule an interview with any of the
speakers at the press conference, please call 212-568.1341 or email
ddesir@theshabazzce nter.org