Political Prisoner Suffers Isolation while Doc Wows Toronto Audiences
April 21, 2007 (Links below)
The Norwegian documentary “USA vs Al-Arian” premiered Friday at
HotDocs, eliciting moviegoers’ outrage towards the US justice system
and its treatment of the Al-Arian family. The film portrays an
American Muslim family facing charges of terrorism through the trial
of Sami Al-Arian.
Two of his adult children, Abdullah and Leena Al-Arian, attending
the international premiere and the midnight reception Friday, were
touched by the standing ovation from the audience. “We weren’t sure
how a North-American audience would react to the film, but the
responses we got were overwhelmingly positive,” Leena said. “At the
reception after the film, we were approached by many people in the
film industry who said they were appalled by the treatment of our
father by the US government.” While his children traveled to the Toronto
premiere of “USA vs Al-Arian”, imprisoned Palestinian activist Sam
iAl-Arian has been on a special tour of his own. So far this year,
he has been transferred from prison to prison nine times, four times
in April alone. Al-Arian went through a six-month trial in which he
was acquitted on the most serious charges. Although the jury
voted 10-2 in favor of acquittal on the remaining counts, the government
threatened a re-trial on those charges. In a 2006 agreement, Al-Arian plead
guilty to one count of giving non-violent assistance to immigrants
associated with an illegal organization and the government agreed to
release him and allow him to leave the country. However, they have
not honored this agreement.
Currently Al-Arian is held under severe conditions in a prison about
1000 miles away from his family, making it extremely hard for them
to keep in touch with him. Al-Arian recently went through a 60-day
hunger strike to protest the government’s treatment. “The conditions
under which Dr. Al-Arian has been detained both during his pre-trial
detention, and since his sentencing appear to be unacceptably harsh
and punitive,” the human rights group Amnesty International wrote in
a February letter to the US Attorney General.
“It was quite a strange experience to see our lives portrayed on the
big screen like this. But seeing everything that happened during the
trial again brings back both good and painful memories,” Abdullah
said.
After the Toronto premiere Friday, director Line Halvorsen received
a lot of praise, but also some accusations of bias.
“It is a personal story seen through the eyes of a family, but the
film is clear on the facts. We give the government a lot of screen
time and the opportunity to present its point of view. But in the
end, what we have is a man found innocent who 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.”
The film screens again Tuesday 11.30 at the ROM theatre, and the
director, Line Halvorsen will be present for a Q&A after the
screening.
Download press pictures from Toronto here:
http://www.dalchowsverden.no/
Other pictures and presskit here:
http://www.dalchowsverden.no/
More info on the films web: http://www.usavsalarian.com/
There is a new story on hotdocs.bside.com about USA vs. Al-Arian:
http://www.hotdocs.ca/daily.
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.”
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