Al-Sharq Al-Awsat

published August 10, 2003 Interview

BYLINE: Interview with Dr. Sami al-Arian, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern Florida, through an intermediary at Coleman Prison in Florida, where Dr. al-Arian is being held on charges of belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organiza

BODY:

Dr. Sami al-Arian, Professor of Computer Science at the University of South Florida, who is being held in Coleman Prison in the United States, considers that the accusations which he faces for belonging to the Palestinian Islamic “Jihad” organization are vague and unsubstantiated.

In answer to questions posed to him by al-Sharq al-Awsat from inside the high-security prison through an intermediary, Dr. al-Arian states that there is no criminal evidence against him in the thousands of hours of audiotapes recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He adds that although the administration of the US federal prison has deprived him of pens, paper, and attendance of the Friday prayer since his arrest last 20 February, books by Bin Taymiyah and others are being smuggled to him inside his solitary confinement cell. He explains that he spends most of his time in solitary confinement preparing for the trial, which has been set to take place at the end of 2005.

The Palestinian academic states that last June, the prison administration forbade him to use the telephone for six months due to the fact that his wife had put him in touch with his son, who is a student in London.

Q: “Are you in solitary confinement? How many hours are you allowed to come out of the cell? How many telephone calls are you allowed every week? And how many visits do you receive every month according to the rules of the US prison?”

A: “I praise God Almighty for everything, since whatever harm is meant to befall me, will befall me, and whatever I am meant to be spared, I will be spared. Unfortunately, I am suffering in a country that boasts to the world that it defends human rights, whereas in fact it persecutes the Muslim minorities within it.

“Despite my being falsely accused four months ago, the Constitution and the law guarantee the accused the right to defend himself. They also guarantee him the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. However, the treatment I have received since the first day of my incarceration demonstrates that they deal with me as though I had already been tried and convicted. The prison in which I am being held is considered to be one of the toughest in the world. We remain in solitary confinement for 23 to 24 hours a day, and because the prison is more than 70 miles (that is, about 100 km) from the defense team, it is very difficult to prepare a genuine defense, not to mention the fact that the team of lawyers faces severe difficulty in seeing me, meeting with me, or even exchanging papers or documents with me. I also suffer some things that might be considered minor. For example, it is extremely difficult to obtain ink pens, whether fountain or ball point. As for pencils, we are given only two at a time, not to mention the scarcity of paper, which puts me at odds constantly with the prison administration due to my requests that they bring me a pen and some paper. When I leave my cell to meet the defense team, my hands are handcuffed behind my back, which makes it difficult to carry the papers or files relating to the case; the prison officials refuse to carry them, so I am obliged to carry them on my back by walking hunched over for about 200 meters. This is in addition to the rough, humiliating treatment, such as having to get completely undressed whenever I come out of the cell, and the tight restrictions on the use of the telephone to check up on my family and children. In the middle of last June, the federal prison administration decided to prevent me from using the telephone for six months, because my wife put me on the line with my son who is a student in London, their argument being that my son’s number wasn’t on the list.

“Since last February 20, I have not been allowed to kiss or hug my children on any visit, since the visits are limited and take place from behind glass barriers. We are also subjected daily to severe psychological pressures. There is noise and disturbance night and day, since they have me in a place where there are prisoners suffering from severe psychological exhaustion, which causes them to beat on the cell doors and scream nonstop. The prison administration responds by turning on the warning sirens, which are deafeningly loud, for a long time every day. They may turn them on between 5 to 10 times a day. As for leaving the cell, the prison administration is under obligation to bring prisoners out into the prison courtyard one hour a day. However, this does not happen regularly, since the administration has instructed prison guards to let everyone else out before my turn comes up, and there are many times when I never get a turn to come out.”

Q: “What are the reasons for your hunger strike?”

A: “My open hunger strike came about in protest against the injustice that I am suffering. The case is a purely political one, and it is an attempt to silence me and to support the university in its unjust decision to require me to resign from my post. It is also an attempt to silence the Arab and Islamic voice against this Administration’s violations through arbitrary laws against civil and constitutional rights, human rights, and political freedoms. However, I do take liquids, and I have managed to fast for God’s sake on most days.”

Q: “Are you allowed to attend the Friday (congregational) prayer? And what do you read in the US prison?”

A: “I am not allowed to take part in the Friday prayer with the other Muslim prisoners despite my persistent requests to do so. As for books, they are not allowed unless they are sent directly to me, and they have to be paperback. However, thanks be to God, I have been able to obtain numerous books from Muslim prisoners who have smuggled them to me through the food slot in my cell door. I’ve read numerous books by the Shaykh of Islam, Bin-Taymiyah, Bin-Hanbal, and others by Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, especially his book entitled,”Patient Endurance in the Holy Koran.” I am presently reading the book “Greater Israel and the Palestinians” by Nur-al-Din Musalahah.”

Q: “How do you spend your long periods of free time?”

A: “Of course, I spend a lot of time preparing for the trial that has been set — unjustly — for the end of 2005, even though I am prepared for it now, since the accusations are false, bogus, and without evidence to support them. However, the government has announced that it isn’t ready. I also spend a lot of time memorizing the Holy Koran, repeating phrases of divine remembrance, praying, and writing letters.”

Q: “There are reports that there are thousands of hours of recorded telephone conversations. How did they obtain these?”

A: “The US prosecution claims that it obtained a court order to record the telephone conversations beginning in 1994. This issue, of course, will be disputed with respect to its legality. However, I affirm to all that I do not believe that there is any evidence against me in these conversations, the recording of which many believe to be unconstitutional.”

Q: “What is the truth of the reports that you are seeking to hasten the trial, which has been scheduled for January, 2005, whereas others want to postpone it until later, as if the postponement is in their favor? Where is the truth?”

A: “The Constitution and the law give me the right to demand a prompt trial since, as I have mentioned, there is no serious evidence in support of these accusations. Most of these conversations have been deliberately mistranslated or interpreted for political reasons. Consequently, the prosecution’s interest lies in postponing the trial, since it is not ready for it. The prosecution makes the excuse that the issue is “complex,” and that there is secret evidence and evidence from a foreign state, that is, Israel. At the same time, they demand that I be imprisoned for the duration of the time when they are preparing for the trial. I believe this to be unfair and unacceptable. If they are not prepared after investigations that have gone on for more than nine years, as they claim they have, I am prepared to give them nine more years to prepare themselves. However, I cannot be imprisoned for this entire time. This is, quite simply, a violation of the most basic recognized principles and limits of justice.”

Q: “Could you say something about the accusations directed against you?”

A: “The accusations directed against me are insubstantial and unspecified. The prosecution acknowledged during the initial sessions that they had no evidence of intent to commit acts of violence or terrorism. However, US law allows them to accuse someone of conspiracy without specifying a given crime. In this case, they claim that I am conspiring against Israel to kill its citizens. They then bring forth a list of all the operations that have been carried out by the Palestinian Jihad movement and say that I am responsible for them. Of course, this claim is devoid of even the slightest injustice or objectivity. As for most of the accusations, they can be summed up in the use of the telephone for quite ordinary purposes, such as defending my brother-in-law, Dr. Mazin al-Najjar, who was tried and imprisoned in the United States based on secret evidence, or collecting contributions for the local Islamic school. The purpose is to deceive others and to delude them into thinking that there are numerous, serious accusations whereas they are, in fact, spurious and trivial. If I am provided with the defense team that I want, we will be able, with God’s help, to reveal the truth and defeat falsehood.”

Q: “How many Muslims are there, approximately, in Florida’s Coleman Prison? Do you meet with any of them? Is this the same prison in which Dr. Mazin al-Najjar was held?”

A: “I don’t know exactly how many Muslims there are in Coleman Prison since, as I mentioned earlier, I am isolated from them and am not allowed to visit them or speak with them. However, they write to me constantly, send me books, and ask me for Islamic legal rulings. This is the same prison in which Dr. Mazin al-Najjar was held for nine months before he was transferred last August.”

Q: “Do you feel sorry now for having entered work as a human rights volunteer in the United States?”

A: “I don’t feel sorry at all for anything I have done in the belief that it was a religious or humanitarian duty, which I had no choice but to perform. I came to this country when I was 17 years old, and I have been here more than 28 years. This country has claimed that it is democratic and that it defends human rights and the Constitution. However, it is impossible to determine whether such claims are true or false without putting them to the test. Moreover, Muslims in the United States now number more than 8 million, and it will not be possible for this community to preserve its rights, its gains ,and the future of its children without entering the battlefield of public action, especially the defense of its civil and constitutional rights. The history of minorities in the United States is replete with examples that show us that minorities’ rights are not respected or gained without sacrifices, insistence, and the determination to obtain them; they are not simply given away or won through begging and pleading. And I am very pleased by the great support that I receive from hundreds of Islamic associations.”

Q: “You have lived in the United States for about 28 years, that is, more than a quarter of a century, and now you have ended up in a US prison ‘by virtue of injustice and slander,’ as your supporters say. What is your impression of the US system and the American people, especially since the painful events of 11 September? And do you believe that you will win the case in this atmosphere, which is so charged against you?”

A: “This is an important question, which is not easy to answer quickly. American society is a pluralistic, varied society, which has many good qualities as well as many bad ones, in addition to contradictions that live side by side. Perhaps the most important thing that distinguishes the United States is that it is a state made up of institutions that have a constitution that preserves the country’s unity. By means of the Constitution, many positive forces are able to challenge injustice, arbitrariness, and racism in order to win, first, the battle for public opinion before it turns into a political or judicial victory. The injustice that has befallen me does not justify anything; however, I believe fully that the powers of good and justice will stand by our side and will be able, by God’s help, to expose the spurious nature of these groundless accusations. All of my work through institutions was an attempt to reinforce the existence of the Arab and Islamic community, to preserve its rights and to support the Palestinian cause whose identity and justness some seek to obliterate in the darkness. I believe that if my trial is destined to take place, it will parallel the trial of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer in France in the 1890s. That trial was a mark of disgrace on France’s forehead, since it demonstrated the racism and discrimination against the Jews in France, which motivated Hertzel at that time to launch the Zionist movement. In addition, my trial may be not so much my own trial as a test of the fairness of the US judicial system. Even if US public opinion has been marshaled against Islam and Muslims as it had been marshaled against the Jews in France, I still believe that I will be victorious in the end, that injustice will not endure in the face of the truth, and that the forces of good in this country and in the Arab and Islamic world will refuse to remain silent. Rather, they will always move, and when they do, the Koranic phrase, “the truth has now come to light, and falsehood has withered away: for, behold, all falsehood is bound to wither away!” (17: 81) will be brought to pass. The movement of history has always been on the side of freedom and against the forces of wrong, injustice and oppression, whether these forces have been in the East or in the West. As for the matter of winning the case, I have absolute confidence that God almighty, who vindicated our master Joseph, may peace be upon him, after he had been imprisoned based on injustice and slander when he was in the house of the ruler of Egypt, will vindicate me as well. I view my case as a chapter in Arab and Islamic history on American soil, and in the realm of the struggle for civil rights.”

Q: “How will you be able to cover the expenses of the defense team?”

A: “Whoever knows the United States knows that there are two systems of justice. One of these systems applies to those who have a first- rate team of lawyers and who, as a consequence, can defy the state’s unlimited resources and defeat its arrogance and pride. However, this class of lawyers costs a great deal. The costs of my defense alone have been estimated at approximately $ 1.5 million, only one-third of which has been covered. Consequently, I call upon able Arabs and Muslims to lend us a hand in order for us to bring the truth to light.”

A brief biological sketch of Sami al-Arian

Sami al-Arian, who bears Palestinian nationality, was born in Kuwait in 1958. He emigrated with his family to Egypt in 1966, then traveled to the United States in 1975 at the age of 17 to complete his university studies. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree, graduating with honors in 1978 with a major in Electrical Engineering, and completed his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in the years 1980 and 1985 respectively. Dr. al-Arian was employed in 1986 as a professor in the Computer Sciences Department at the University of South Florida in the city of Tampa. He was chosen in 1993 as the best professor in the Faculty of Engineering, and as the best professor on the level of the entire university in 1994. Last February, the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused al-Arian and seven others of being involved since 1984 in a criminal organization that assists the Palestinian Jihad movement. The authorities added that this organization had been responsible for 100 murder operations in Israel, and that al-Arian was the Jihad movement’s chief of operations in the United States.

Al-Arian was arrested for his relationship with Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, the leader of the Palestinian Jihad Community and Abd-al-Aziz al-Awdah, “the spiritual head of the fundamentalist community.” Shalah lives in Syria and al-Awdah lives in the Palestinian territories, and it is not yet clear whether the US authorities will ask for them to be extradited to the United States.

The University of South Florida terminated the Palestinian professor based on claims that he had supported the activities of “terrorist communities” after the events of 9 September 2001, but al-Aryan denied any connection with terrorist activities. It bears noting that al-Aryan has been under investigation by US authorities since the 1990s, but no charges have been brought against him.

Dr. al-Arian has played a prominent role in establishing a number of Arab and Islamic institutions over the past quarter of a century. These include The Arab Muslim Youth League in 1977, the Islamic Community of Tampa, and the Islamic Academy of Florida, which is an Islamic school for students in Tampa and its suburbs. Al- Arian is considered to have been among the most active lecturers in North America in the 1980s and 1990’s on the subjects of the Palestinian cause, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the relationship between Islam and the West. He helped to found the WISE Center (World and Islam Studies Enterprise) in 1990, which sought to set up a serious dialogue between scholars and men involved in the Islamic movement and Western Orientalists. Over a period of five years, the Center issued 20 volumes and several books.

The FBI has directed 50 counts of conspiracy and terrorism against al- Arian; the accusations focus on telephone conversations and faxes between him and certain figures who are accused by the US authorities of being affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement. Al-Arian’s wife, Mrs. Nahlah al-Najjar, states that since her husband’s arrest last 20 February, she has undergone a near-daily ordeal when she goes to visit him, where he is presently held at Tampa’s high-security prison located 100 miles from her home. His wife points out that since the day he was arrested, al-Arian has lost about 20 kilograms due to his open hunger strike based on which he only takes liquids, and that he is subjected to harsh treatment by the prison administration and its guards.

Al-Arian’s wife adds: “It is an irony of fate that  3:00 pm on 11 September 2001 was the time at which President Bush was scheduled to meet with the leaders of Arab and Islamic communities in the United States in order to announce his Administration’s determination to cease applying provisions relating to ‘secret evidence’ in the corridors of the US judiciary. That day was to crown four years of untiring labor on Dr. al-Arian’s part in the area of civil and constitutional rights. However, the international terrorist attacks that took place on that day in New York and Washington revived Zionist circles’ byword of attacking Arab and Islamic figures and institutions.

The campaign against Dr. al-Arian began anew, and was crowned by the decision of the University of South Florida to terminate him again. Three months later,iin December, 2001, the University Council made its decision to dismiss al-Arian.” Al-Arian’s wife adds: “Despite the decision of the US Council of University Professors, an institution that monitors universities’ commitment to the laws and conventions of academic freedom, to appoint an investigative commission to look into the decision to dismiss al-Arian, there was powerful pressure on the university from the Zionist lobby. As a result, the president of the university, who is known for her Zionist leanings, issued a decision calling for al-Arian’s dismissal to remain in effect until the investigations of him had been completed. The US Council of University Professors then announced that the decision to dismiss al- Arian had nothing to justify it and that if the university carried out this decision, the Council would declare the University of South Florida to be an institution that does not respect the laws of academic freedom and that it would place it on the penalties list, which would have a negative impact on the university’s academic reputation.”

(Description of Source: London Al-Sharq al-Awsat (Internet Version- WWW) in Arabic — Influential Saudi-owned London daily providing independent coverage of Arab and international issues; editorials reflect official Saudi views on foreign policy)