Bradenton Herald
February 26, 2003
Irina Slutsky
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TAMPA – Black and white. Christian and Muslim. Women, men and children. Students and retirees.

They marched outside of the federal courthouse Tuesday protesting the arrest of a man they respect. A man they believe is a leader, a scholar and perhaps a martyr.

They chanted demands of freedom for suspended University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, a man who calls himself a “prisoner of conscience.”

“I am not a criminal,” Sami Al-Arian stated in a letter read by his 17-year-old daughter to a crowd of family members and supporters.

“I’m crucified because of who I am,” Leena Al-Arian continued reading her father’s words, dozens of microphones, notepads and tape recorders framing her face.

Last week, the government named Sami Al-Arian as the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, a terrorist group accused of killing more than 100 people in Israel and at least two Americans.

Jailed since Thursday, Sami Al-Arian appeared in court along with two other Tampa residents – Sameeh Hammoudeh and Hatim Fariz – for a bond hearing, but the federal magistrate postponed the hearing to allow defense attorneys more time to prepare.

Al-Arian said his arrest is a result of the Sept. 11 “hysteria” engulfing the nation.

Young women in Islamic headdress held up posters proclaiming “Palestinians Are People Too!” and “Justice for Al-Arian.”

“I am a stateless Palestinian, an Arab, a Muslim, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. I am not the enemy, but the forces of exclusion and intolerance are,” Leena Al-Arian read on behalf of her father.

In a down elevator stuffed with people, Sami Al-Arian’s 9-year-old daughter, Lama, said to no one in particular, “They are going to reschedule another hearing.”

Bond hearing delayed

A federal grand jury indicted Sami Al-Arian, Hammoudeh and Fariz along with five other men in a 121-page document unsealed last week, accusing the men of “murder, extortion, money laundering, fraud and misuse of visas.” Some of the charges are punishable by life in prison.

Nahla Al-Arian compared her husband’s plight to that of religious prophets.|

“He feels what is happening to him is what happened to other prophets – Moses, Job, Jonah,” she said. “So we have to be patient. I want him back with me.”

For the first time since the government began investigating him in the late 1980s, Sami Al-Arian walked into a courtroom as a prisoner, wearing orange jail pants and a blue jacket with the words “Hillsborough County Jail” across the back.

On a hunger strike protesting his arrest, Sami Al-Arian looked visibly thinner than he was last week, the too-big jacket sleeves hanging over the knuckles of his hands.

“He’s lost 10 pounds,” Nahla Al-Arian, his wife, said. Al-Arian’s attorney Nicholas Matassini said his client is in 24-hour isolation and has no window in his cell.

Hammoudeh and Fariz walked into the courtroom after Sami Al-Arian, smiling at family members who barely had room to sit among the two dozen reporters from as close by as a few blocks and as far away as New York City.

The wives, sisters and daughters of Sami Al-Arian, Hammoudeh and Fariz wept quietly into tissues and handkerchiefs as attorneys explained to Magistrate Mark Pizzo why they needed more time to prepare for a bond hearing.

“We only received the indictment on Thursday,” Matassini said. “Mr. Al-Arian did not get a copy until Friday. I have attempted to assemble a team to help me and to indirectly seek financing to pay for the attorneys. Though I’ve worked nonstop since Thursday, I will not be able to put on the evidence we need to effectively show that bail is appropriate for Mr. Al-Arian.”

Ultimately, the attorneys representing Hammoudeh and Fariz agreed with Matassini and asked for an extension. Government prosecutors Walter Furr, Cherie Krigsman and Terry Zitek did not object to the request, and Pizzo set March 24 as the new bond-hearing date.

Federal prosecutors announced during court that they plan to use “foreign intelligence surveillance” in their case and estimated the trial against the eight men will last between six months and a year. Prosecutors declined to explain exactly what the “intelligence” included.

Gathered on the courthouse steps after the court appearance, the families and protesters mingled, hugging each other, offering words of support.

Mohammed and Soloman Abufreijeh, two brothers, said they came to see what would happen to Sami Al-Arian.

“He’s the imam at our mosque,” Soloman Abufreijeh, 47, said. “He is the leader of our mosque. I’ve known Sami for 10 years; he’s innocent.”

“Yes, he’s innocent, that’s truly why we are here,” Mohammed Abufreijeh, 44, said.

Two groups from the Tampa Bay area – the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality and the Florida Alliance for Peace and Social Justice – organized the protesters who came early Tuesday morning and began chanting, “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Sami Al-Arian’s attorney said though he has requested a prayer rug and a Quran for his client, Sami Al-Arian has only received an English version of the Islamic text.

Matassini said he may not be able to stay on Sami Al-Arian’s case because of the finances involved in the case.

Nahla Al-Arian said Sami Al-Arian’s supporters have opened a defense fund for her husband. Sami Al-Arian has estimated his defense costs at $2 million.

Hammoudeh’s wife and sister – Nadia and Nadre – joined the group of women outside. Nadre Hammoudeh cried deeply, grieving her brother’s arrest.

Fariz’s wife, Manal, and her children disappeared immediately after the hearing, heading to a conference with Fariz’s attorney.

Combined efforts

The government lists an “unindicted co-conspirator,” whose identifying details match Mazen Al-Najjar, another former USF professor and Al-Arian’s brother-in-law. The government never charged Al-Najjar with a crime during the three years and eight months he was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Bradenton. He was deported in August for overstaying his student visa.

Suspended with pay from teaching at USF since September 2001, the 45-year-old Al-Arian denied allegations he funneled money to the PIJ through a university think tank and that he is the secretary of the PIJ’s worldwide operation.

Justice Department officials said the combined efforts of several law enforcement agencies helped the government complete the arrest of Sami Al-Arian and the others, including a man arrested in Chicago and four others still sought abroad.

Sami Al-Arian has lived in the United States for more than two decades, his five children born here. In addition to Leena and Lama, Sami Al-Arian’s children include son Abdullah, 22, who is in England attending the London School of Economics; daughter Laila, 21, who is in her last semester as an English major at Georgetown University; and a son, Ali, 12.

Nahla Al-Arian defended her husband as reporters shot questions at her endlessly.

“It is nonsense, the indictment,” Nahla Al-Arian told a mob of reporters. “It lists so many things that are misconstrued.”

The indictment states the “only purpose of the PIJ was to destroy Israel” and that Sami Al-Arian “directed the audit of all moneys and property of the PIJ throughout the world and was the leader of the PIJ in the United States.”

Date by date, starting with 1984, the indictment alleges in detail Sami Al-Arian’s leadership of the PIJ, describing thousand-dollar wire transfers Sami Al-Arian made to relatives of “known terrorists.”

The indictment includes numerous allegations, describing the men as members of a murderous enterprise, one which solicited its members to perform suicide bombings and other violent acts “to drive Israel out of the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and to end any influence of the United States in the Middle East.”

Long investigation

Authorities began investigating Sami Al-Arian in the late ’80s, years before he and Al-Najjar started a group called the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE. The group – often described as a think tank – was affiliated with USF and held conferences and seminars in conjunction with the school’s education programs.

Another group alleged to be a terrorist front was a related charity run by Al-Arian and Al-Najjar, named the Islamic Committee for Palestine, or ICP.

Indicted but living abroad are: Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, 45; Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi, 50; Mohammed Tasir Hassan Al-Khatib; and Abd Al Aziz Awda, 52.

Justice Department officials said they plan to have the men arrested and extradited to the United States. The men are believed to be living in England, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian area under substantial Israeli control.

Co-defendant Shallah, a former director of WISE who was recruited to USF by Sami Al-Arian and left the United States in 1995, resurfaced six months later in Syria as the commander of the PIJ.

The indictment states Al-Arian and Al-Najjar met with Sheik Omar Abdul-Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted of plotting the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, when he spoke at an ICP conference.

On a videotape filmed during a 1988 speech in Cleveland, Al-Arian said “Death to Israel!” Al-Arian has said what he meant was death to occupation and oppression and denounced the killing of civilians.