Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
Feb. 20, 2003

Muslims Question Timing, Intent Behind Arrest of Muslim Professor
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation

(Washington, DC – 2/20/2003) In a statement released today, the Muslim American Society (MAS) said that this morning’s arrest of a Florida Muslim professor spoke more to the government’s targeting of Muslim leaders and civil liberties than the fight against terrorism.

The professor, Dr. Sami Al-Arian of Tampa, Florida, a prominent community leader and outspoken defender of civil liberties, has long been a target of pro-Israel advocates because of his views in support of Palestinian rights. As a founding member of the Washington, DC-based National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, Dr. Al-Arian campaigned against the use of “secret evidence,” the government practice of keeping evidence secret from the accused and their attorneys.

The MAS statement read:

“The arrest of Prof. Sami Al-Arian today conforms to a pattern of political intimidation by an Attorney General who seems to be targeting the American Muslim community’s leaders and institutions in a drive to erode Americans’ civil liberties.

The Department of Justice has the discretion of whom it prosecutes and when. After ten years of investigating Dr. Al-Arian because of his political views and failing to come up with any evidence of a crime, we must ask why the department chose today to accuse him of wrongdoing.

Both the timing of the arrest and government officials’ statements at today’s press conference seem to indicate that today’s action was based not on legitimate law enforcement considerations, but was rather an attempt to stimulate public fear of ‘terrorists among us’ and support for the Justice Department’s ominous proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003.

As an outspoken defender of American constitutional freedoms and civil liberties, Dr. Al-Arian would seem to be the perfect target of arrest for an administration bent on dismantling those liberties.

We believe that Dr. Al-Arian is innocent until proven otherwise. We call for an open, public trial, and that secret evidence not be used against Dr. Al-Arian, as it has so often been used against Muslims and Arabs. MAS intend to stand by his family and support them in this difficult time.

MAS reaffirms that this continued pattern of targeting American Muslim leaders will never deter our community from moving forward with its social and political activism in support of freedom, justice, and equality for all Americans.”

MAS Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of the Muslim American Society, a national grassroots religious and educational organization.