TAMPA—

On Monday Jan. 22, Dr. Sami Al-Arian began a hunger strike to protest continued government harassment.That day, Dr. Al-Arian appeared before a new grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was subpoenaed by a rogue federal prosecutor to testify a second time in the same case. After Dr. Al-Arian expressed his ethical stance against testifying, a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia held him in civil contempt, once again prolonging his suffering and imprisonment by up to 18 months. Dr. Al-Arian’s originally scheduled release date is April 13.

Last November, the same judge placed Dr. Al-Arian in civil contempt for not testifying. At the time, his attorneys argued that cooperation was a clear violation of the plea agreement he reached with Florida prosecutors last May. One month after he was held in contempt, the grand jury term expired. However, less than a month later, a new grand jury was once again impaneled by Gordon Kromberg, a federal prosecutor whose racist statements against Arabs and Muslims are well-known.

During yesterday’s court appearance, Dr. Al-Arian’s attorney requested to delay the judge’s decision until further evidence could be brought to light supporting Dr. Al-Arian’s decision not testify and the highlighting the government’s abuse of power. However, the judge denied the request and ordered that Dr. Al-Arian be held in civil contempt. Please see below Dr. Al-Arian’s statement before the judge.

This is the second hunger strike by Dr. Al-Arian, who is a diabetic, during his nearly four-year imprisonment. Following his February 20, 2003 incarceration, he went on a 140-day hunger strike to protest the government’s political persecution. During that time, he was hospitalized and lost 45 pounds.

In recent weeks, Dr. Al-Arian has been placed under particularly arduous conditions after he was moved from Warsaw, Virginia to Atlanta because of what prison authorities deemed a “mistake.” Not only did the nonsensical move further isolate Dr. Al-Arian from family and friends, but he was also denied phone calls and visitations in Atlanta.

These latest developments in Dr. Al-Arian’s case are a clear and outrageous display of government corruption and abuse of power. In spite of an agreement intended to resolve his case once and for all, the government has continued to harass Dr. Al-Arian and mire him further in legal purgatory. He will remain on a hunger strike until the government ends its vindictive campaign against him and allows him to return to his wife and children.