January 2003: Dr. Al-Arian and the faculty union start the first step in re-instating him to his tenured position. AAUP warns USF of imminent sanctions unless Prof. Al-Arian is reinstated immediately.

February 20, 2003: Dr. Sami Al-Arian is arrested before dawn and charged in a 53-count indictment in a terrorism case against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Charges include conspiracy to murder people outside the United States. Strangely enough, a photographer from the Tampa Tribune, the local rightwing newspaper, accompanies the federal agents. On his way to the courthouse, Dr. Al-Arian declares to the waiting reporters “it’s all politics.”

That day, Dr. Al-Arian begins a liquid-only hunger strike that continues for the next 140 days. He as well as his co-defendants are kept in isolation at the local Orient Road Jail in Tampa.

February 26, 2003: Less than one week after Dr. Al-Arian is charged, University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft fires Dr. Al-Arian from his position as an award-winning tenured professor, under pressure from the Board of Trustees, after over a year of trying to do so, at the height of post-9/11 hysteria surrounding his constitutionally protected activities.

March 20, 2003: The bail hearing for Dr. Al-Arian and his co-defendants lasts four days and features over thirty-five witnesses in defense of their character, with the prosecution providing no witnesses and no evidence, and failing to show that any of the men are flight risks or threats to national security. Weeks later, Magistrate Mark Pizzo denies bail to Dr. Al-Arian and co-defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh. The other 2 co-defendants Hatim Fariz and Ghassan Ballut, both U.S. citizens, are granted bail.

March 27, 2003: The men were moved from the local jail in Tampa, Florida to a maximum-security federal penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, 75 miles away.

Conditions were as follows:

They were housed in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), a maximum-security area for the discipline of convicted criminals who have committed violations within the prison.

Dr. Al-Arian and Hammoudeh shared a 6 x 9 cell, where they remained for 23-hour lockdown. When they were allowed to leave, they were placed in a slightly larger cell a few feet away for recreation one hour a day.

They were only allowed non-contact visits with immediate family members. No one else was allowed to visit at all, other than Dr. Al-Arian’s lawyer. Meanwhile, convicted criminals at the penitentiary are allowed contact visits with family and friends.

When Dr. Al-Arian was taken to meet with his lawyer, he was shackled and handcuffed behind his back. He was bent over and forced to carry his legal papers on his back, like a beast of burden. He was strip-searched any time he left or entered his cell. This continued for several months.

He was subjected to deafening noise throughout the day and the lights were under the control of the guards and rarely turned off.

Access to lawyers, telephones, and even pencils was severely limited. All mail, including legal mail from lawyers, was opened before he received it.

He is denied access to any religious service, and access to a watch.

He was allowed to make only one 15-minuted call per month. And for 6 months (between June and December 2003), he was denied all phone calls.

April 8, 2003: Unable to raise enough funds for private attorneys, Dr. Al-Arian is appointed attorneys by Magistrate Thomas McCoun. In the months ahead, little progress is made.

April 10, 2003: Dr. Al-Arian and Mr. Hammoudeh are denied bail, while Hatim Fariz and Ghassan Ballut are released from Coleman Federal Penitentiary. Also, a new civil rights organization, the National Liberty Fund (NLF) announces it will be taking on the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian and organizes a number of events across the country in the following months.

June 5, 2003: Judge Moody announces the trial date to be no sooner than January 2005, nearly two years following the arrest despite the fact that Dr. Al-Arian never waived his constitutional right to a speedy trial (i.e. to hold his trial within 70 days of his arrest.)

June 15, 2003: In its annual meeting, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) condemns the University of South Florida, stating that it violated the rights of Dr. Al-Arian to due process and academic freedom.

June 18, 2003: Upon making a telephone call to his home and then to his son who was studying abroad, Dr. Al-Arian is punished for violating Coleman’s ban on three-way calling when he was connected to his son without his knowledge. He is given a six-month ban on all telephone calls.

July 17, 2003: Respected human rights organization Amnesty International writes a letter to the Justice Department condemning the conditions under which Dr. Al-Arian is kept, including the 23-hour lockdown, strip searches, use of chains and shackles, severely limited recreation, lack of access to any religious services and denial of a watch or clock in a windowless cell where the artificial lights are rarely turned off.

July 25, 2003: Dr. Al-Arian is allowed to fire his court-appointed attorneys following months of little progress in his case or improvements in the conditions of confinement. He chooses to act as his own attorney. In preparation for his self-representation, he ends his liquid only hunger strike after 140 days and losing 45 pounds.

September 8, 2003: Dr. Al-Arian is moved to Tampa for discovery (i.e. to examine evidence.) He remains there less than four weeks, despite the fact that there are over 400,000 documents, records of 120 bank accounts and credit cards dating back to 1986, over 750 video tapes, more than 1000 audio tapes, about 21,000 hours of over 472,000 intercepted phone calls, in addition to hundreds of facsimiles.

September 12, 2003: Following a frustrating few months of little development for Dr. Al-Arian’s case or improvement in his confinement, Judge Moody rules that the 472,000 calls in 21,000 hours of taped conversations classified by the government must be released to defense attorneys, but they are barred from releasing them to the public or discussing them with anyone other than their clients. The process of providing these tapes to the defense is slow and tedious.

October 6, 2003: Dr. Al-Arian is returned to the Federal Penitentiary in Coleman.

October 29, 2003: After three months of representing himself, Dr. Al-Arian hires respected Washington DC attorney William B. Moffitt and the experienced local lawyer Linda Moreno to represent him.

December 9, 2003: An article in the Chicago Tribune reveals that key evidence in the case was destroyed by federal authorities. The search warrants and other related materials from the early searches of Dr. Al-Arian’s home and office were mistakenly shredded by court officials. Subsequently, the judge denies motions to hold a hearing regarding the shredding of the documents and whether the searches are unconstitutional despite overwhelming evidence of a general search.