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Al-Arian’s trial on terrorism charges is still 18 months away.
Meanwhile, the former University of South Florida professor is being
held in conditions usually reserved for criminal monsters. If this
punishing confinement is an effort by the federal government to wear
down Al-Arian physically and mentally so he doesn’t have the
capability to mount a defense, it is a deplorable tactic. Al-Arian’s
case will be watched by the Muslim world, and he should be tried
through a fair process that leaves no doubt that justice was done.

Al-Arian is being held without bond at Coleman Correctional Facility
in Sumter County on charges that he provided key support to the
Middle Eastern terror group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has
been linked to more than 100 deaths. He is being held in the Special
Housing Unit of the prison, a place for violent and uncontrollable
convicts, in a windowless 7-by-13-foot cell that he shares with
another inmate. Al-Arian has been denied a watch or clock and the
artificial light in his cell is always on. Recreation consists of one
hour, five days a week, when Al-Arian may walk around another steel
cage.

In a letter sent to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in June, Amnesty
International calls it “gratuitously punitive.” The group says his
conditions “are inconsistent with international standards and
treaties which require that all persons deprived of liberty must be
treated humanely.”

While Al-Arian might require greater oversight than other prisoners,
possibly for his own protection, he should be given a reasonable
modicum of comfort. The kind of humiliations heaped upon him by
prison staff, including shackling him every time he’s moved, and
forcing him to bend over and carry papers on his back when meeting
with visitors, are displays worthy of a Bernard Malamud-inspired
gulag. At least a federal judge stepped in to stop the constant strip
searching.

Currently, Al-Arian is asking a judge for some extended privileges,
including unmonitored all-day telephone use, access to a better legal
library and contact visits with prospective witnesses. Al-Arian
recently won the right to defend himself, a situation that will
inevitably complicate his confinement for prison officials. Still, he
has a constitutional right to the materials needed to prepare a
defense.

Some of Al-Arian’s requests are inconsistent with prison security,
but some should be granted. He should be given access to the audio
and videotapes related to his case as well as all relevant legal
documents. That he has been denied writing paper and pencils is
indefensible. It is essential to his defense that he be given the
freedom to write and access to a reasonably complete law library.

Al-Arian has already been denied his right to a speedy trial. His
trial is now scheduled to begin in January 2005, and because he has
also been denied bond, Al-Arian will have to await his court date
behind bars. Meanwhile, the government appears to be doing all it can
to break the man and make it more difficult for him to mount a
defense. This is no way to win a conviction or treat an accused
person, not even an alleged terrorist.