*URGENT – Dr. Sami Al-Arian PETITION for Release

Wed Apr 30 11:23:42 EDT 2008

    International Action Center <http://iacenter.org/>

    * *SIGN the Petition at
      <http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition>http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition.html*

  Sign the Sami Al-Arian Petition

*FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF DR. SAMI AL-ARIAN! *

*Let President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, 
Attorney General Mukasey, Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, Senate 
and House Judiciary Committees, Congressional leaders, U.N. Secretary 
General Ban, and Major media representatives know that you want DR. SAMI 
AL-ARIAN RELEASED IMMEDIATELY!*

*SIGN the Petition! 
<http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition>http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition.html** 
<http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition>

Read IAC update on Dr. Al-Arian - 
http://www.iacenter.org/palestine/al-arian041708/

*

*For more information: www.FreeSamiAlArian.com <http://www.FreeSamiAlArian.com>*

* *

We are writing to express our grave concern for the life, health and 
liberty of Dr. Sami Al-Arian and request his immediate release from 
custody and deportation from the United States. Dr. Al-Arian remains in 
prison after five years, despite acquittals and agreements for his 
release and deportation.  *Since March 3, he has been on a 
life-threatening hunger strike.*

Dr. Sami Al-Arian, 50, was a highly respected member of his university, 
a leader in his Florida community, and a national leader in 
Arab-American affairs when Attorney General Ashcroft announced his 
arrest with great fanfare.  Dr. Al-Arian was an award-winning tenured 
professor of computer engineering at the University of South Florida. He 
was arrested in February 2003 and charged in a bloated 53-count 
terrorism conspiracy case. A jury acquitted him of all the serious 
charges in December 2005, and was unable to agree on the remaining 
counts, though ten jurors voting for acquittal.  The six-month trial is 
believed to have cost U.S. taxpayers $50 million and was a total failure.

Threatened with retrial on the nine counts on which the jury could not 
agree, and realizing he has already served more than three years since 
his February 2003 arrest, which would apply toward any sentence imposed, 
and aware of the cost and time consumed in a second trial, Dr. Al-Arian 
agreed to plead guilty to a single minor count as the quickest way to 
end the government’s actions against him and rejoin his family.

His agreement to the plea was contingent on the condition that he would 
not be forced to cooperate with prosecutors in any further 
investigation.   The plea agreement was viewed as a face saving device 
for the U.S. government.

On May 1, 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s office recommended in open court 
that all remaining charges against Dr. Sami Al Arian be dropped and that 
he be released and deported from the U.S. on completion of the sentence 
imposed based on his plea.  Based on that sentence, Dr. Al-Arian should 
have been released in April 2007, at the latest. In fact, prosecutors 
recommended the minimum sentence, which would have seen him released 
almost immediately (leaving no time or consideration for the possibility 
of cooperation).

Instead of release and deportation, however, Dr. Al Arian has been held 
and repeatedly summoned to testify before federal grand juries in 
Virginia, where he has steadfastly refused to testify based on his plea 
agreement, and strong recommendations by his attorneys that the 
subpoenas are in fact a perjury trap.  The government’s purpose can only 
be to force testimony against friends and associates to sew divisions in 
the community and implicate other innocent individuals whom the 
government has for years investigated unsuccessfully.  If the testimony 
does not incriminate friends and associates, Dr. Al Arian could then 
face perjury charges.  This is a classic catch-22 situation. Based on 
the past practices of the prosecutor in Virginia, Dr. Al-Arian’s 
attorneys have correctly called it a perjury trap. What knowledge can 
Dr. Al Arian possibly have after more than five years in prison, most of 
it in total isolation, especially after his failed prosecution that 
could possibly aid any future prosecution?

Dr. Sami Al Arian was finally scheduled for release and deportation on 
April 11, 2008, but with threats of further grand jury subpoenas and 
criminal contempt prosecution still hanging over him.  He was 
transferred from judicial to immigration custody on April 11 and moved 
to several immigration facilities, without his counsel or family being 
informed, or the basis for his present detention being revealed. 

*We urge you to act immediately to assure Dr. Al Arian’s release from 
**U.S.** custody and deportation without further delay, as is promised 
in his agreement with the **U.S.** government.  His death in **U.S.** 
custody or serious impairment of his health will cause universal 
condemnation of our country.*

Dr Sami Al Arian’s courage and enormous dignity under extreme conditions 
have earned him world attention and respect. This case is closely 
watched across the U.S. and throughout the world. Because of an 
award-winning Norwegian documentary: /USA// VS. Al-Arian/, millions of 
people in Europe and around the world have been informed of the gross 
injustices suffered by Dr. Al-Arian at the hands of our government. 

In the Middle East and Muslim world and wherever people are concerned 
about wrongful seizures, detentions, prisoner mistreatment and political 
prosecution, he has become a symbol.  Palestinians know Sami Al Arian’s 
only crime was compassion for their suffering.  As the trial in Florida 
clearly demonstrated, the funds he worked so hard to raise in the United 
States were solely for humanitarian relief, basic food, medicine, and 
shelter for those in need. The U.S. will be judged by whether it honors 
its promise to finally release Dr. Al -Arian.

Sincerely,

*Initiating Signers include:*

/Laila Al-Arian, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian/

/Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General
Muhammad Salim Akhtar, Chair of American Muslim //Alliance-Mid-West// 
Region/

/Malaak Shabazz, daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz - Malcolm X/

/Dowoti Desir, Executive Director of the //Malcolm// //X & Dr.// 
//Betty// //Shabazz// //Center///

/Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, Naib Ameer: MANA
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild/

/Ghazi KhanKan, American Muslim Alliance
Aliya Latif, Civil Rights Director of Council on American-Islamic 
Relations - CAIR
Sara Flounders, Co-Director of International Action Center/

/Peter Erlinder Former President of National Lawyers Guild/

/Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of MAS Freedom/

/Tahra M. Goraya, National Director of Council on American Islamic 
Relations/

/ /

*Add Your Name at 
<http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition.html>**http://www.iacenter.org/alarianpetition.html* 

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