Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace

Aug. 19, 2005

Government Picks Up the Pace, But Still No Case

TAMPA-
Week 10 in the trial of Dr. Sami Al-Arian and three others featured

a number of moves by prosecutors that have now become standard fare–
as well as new, more troubling actions that left many courtroom
observers incredulous.

Five years of evidence were covered in five hours, and a dream was
read to jurors.

On Monday, prosecutors for the second time interrupted the testimony
of lead FBI agent Kerry Myers, which had entered its fourth week, in
order to bring in additional witnesses from Israel to testify about
their experiences. Defense attorneys raised several objections about
this testimony, noting that after more than two months of trial,
with nearly a month of testimony by the top agent in the case, the
government had yet to show any evidence linking the accused men with
any events in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The government, while acknowledging on several occasions that none
of the men had any foreknowledge of any attack, nor had any hand in
funding, planning or carrying out any attack, nonetheless insisted
that Israeli victims and law enforcement officials be allowed to
recount their trauma to jurors.

Sameeh Hammoudeh’s attorney, Stephen Bernstein, emphasized that,
even at their worst, the accusations in the case only allege a
conspiracy to provide support to a particular organization, an
accusation the government is required to prove without having to
allude to specific attacks. The federal public defenders
representing Hatim Fariz noted that the testimony of Israeli
witnesses would be highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and meant only
to sensationalize the case. They requested Judge Moody to limit the
gruesome nature of the testimony, none of which has any bearing on
the actual case.

Furthermore, the timing of these witnesses was particularly notable,
since it further delayed the defense’s ability to cross-examine
the government’s summary witness, who would continue testifying
for a fifth week.

Also, the Israeli witnesses were brought only days after a key piece
of government evidence fell flat. Last week, it was revealed that
the government did not turn over evidence that a 1995 letter by Dr.
Al-Arian to a Kuwaiti legislator was never received by him. In fact,
prosecutors disclosed that they interviewed Isma’il Al-Shatti
several months before the trial, and that he clearly stated that he
never saw the letter. In spite of that information, prosecutors have
repeatedly alluded to the letter as their most important piece of
evidence, even citing it in their opening statement. Defense
attorneys called for a mistrial following the new revelation that
key information was kept hidden by the prosecution. read more

All of this led many observers to speculate that prosecutors were
scrambling to gloss over their lack of evidence with the emotionally
charged testimony.

Nonetheless, Judge Moody denied all defense motions and objections,
allowing the testimony to proceed. A total of five Israeli
witnesses, including a victim’s family member, bomb technician,
chemist, and police officers recounted their experiences from a
decade earlier. Prosecutors used a scale model of the area in
question and implored the witnesses for particular graphic details.
Defense attorneys declined to cross-examine them, deeming the
testimony irrelevant to the case.

On Tuesday, prosecutors resumed their questioning of Agent Myers,
alongside their reenactment of decade-old telephone calls. In each
instance, Myers was asked to give his interpretation of the
conversation and their context, identifying any references he
believes are made by the speakers. In most cases, the agent’s
spin appeared largely out of step with what was actually being said,
and at times was even inconsistent with previous statements he made
regarding other calls.

One phone call between Hatim Fariz and another man, for instance,
was originally 65 pages long, of which nearly 40 pages were removed.
Of the remaining 26 pages, only one line mentions Dr. Al-Arian by
name. However, when asked about the purpose behind this telephone
call, the agent responded that Fariz was “informing” the
other person about Dr. Al-Arian’s activities. In reality, the only
mention is that Dr. Al-Arian offered the previous Friday’s sermon.

As always, every phone call was heavily redacted and was further cut
down to only a few selected portions that prosecutors read to the
jury. As the St. Petersburg Times noted in its Aug. 17 article, this
week’s telephone transcripts sharply contrasted with those of the
first three weeks of Myers’ testimony. While those weeks focused
in excruciating detail on telephone calls dating to 1994 and 1995,
five years’ worth of conversations were covered in five hours on
Tuesday.

Most of the telephone calls, from 1995 to 2000 covered a wide range
of issues: the media onslaught against the Muslim community in
Tampa, the arrest of Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar and his imprisonment on
secret evidence, the maintenance of the local mosque and community
school, current events generally, and the situation in the Occupied
Territories specifically. Family members discussed sending gifts and
charitable donations to needy relatives and poor families,
especially during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

All of these different events, as experienced by over two-dozen
people in the telephone calls, were depicted by the government agent
as part of an ongoing conspiracy. In fact, Dr. Al-Arian’s years
of civil rights work on behalf of all Americans to end the use of
secret evidence was repeatedly mischaracterized. It appears the
government has attempted to rewrite the recent past with its gross
misrepresentation of this crucial era in the American Muslim
community’s history. In fact, the portions of telephone calls
that feature Dr. Al-Arian’s tireless efforts to lobby for a
congressional bill among the nation’s lawmakers were not allowed
to be read to jurors by Judge Moody.

Nonetheless, by week’s end, courtroom observers were left amazed
by the types of conversations the government considered evidence. In
one particularly stunning scene, prosecutors used a conversation by
Hatim Fariz in which he conveys to a friend a dream he had the
previous night. It was not immediately clear if the government
intended to present the court with an interpreter of dreams or if
prosecutors planned to hold Fariz or the other defendants
responsible for any appearance they may have had in the dream.

Next week, the prosecution is expected to finish their five-week
questioning of the agent, and the defense will begin cross-
examination, which is expected to last several days.

REMINDER: A rally in support of Dr. Al-Arian will take place at Noon
outside of the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse, 801 North Florida
Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33602.

For the latest on the case, please visit:
www.freesamialarian.com

End.