Washington, DC – October 7, 2008 – Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari for Dr. Sami Al-Arian’s petition regarding the plea agreement he concluded with the government more than two years ago. While this development is unfortunate, it should nevertheless be borne in mind that out of more than 2,000 cases, the Supreme Court has only agreed to accept ten cases during the current term.

Dr. Al-Arian has steadfastly maintained that the terms of his plea agreement exempt him from having to testify before any federal grand jury. On June 26th, government prosecutors charged Dr. Al-Arian with criminal contempt for refusing to testify in a federal grand jury investigating a Virginia-based Islamic think-tank. Although the trial was originally scheduled for August 13th, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia had the trial postponed until the Supreme Court addressed Dr. Al-Arian’s appeal.