Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace

For Immediate Release

April 15, 2006

TAMPA- An unconfirmed report by the Associated Press published
Friday has announced that the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian has been
resolved. According to the report, which appears below, Dr. Al-
Arian will be released from prison and deported to an undisclosed
country following negotiations toward an agreement between his
attorneys and prosecutors.

The report mentions no confirmation of this information from the
government or defense attorneys. The Al-Arian family has refused
comment until an official announcement is made by the court on the
status of ongoing negotiations. We wish them the best during this
time, and hope that their ordeal will soon come to an end.

—

U.S. to deport Palestinian rights activist
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12320833/from/RSS/

Prosecutors failed to convict former Florida professor of financing
terrorism

WASHINGTON – Federal authorities have decided to deport a former
Florida professor and Palestinian rights activist after failing to
convict him on charges he helped finance terror attacks in Israel.

Sami Al-Arian, who had met with U.S. presidents and other political
leaders before his terrorism indictment in 2003, has reached an
agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge and be
deported, two lawyers familiar with the case said Friday. The deal
requires the approval of a judge.

It was not clear where Al-Arian would be sent. He is a Palestinian,
born in Kuwait.

Al-Arian has remained in jail since he was indicted in 2003, even
though a Florida jury acquitted him in December of eight of the 17
federal charges against him and deadlocked on the rest. Stung by the
defeat in the high-profile case, prosecutors pondered whether to
retry him on the remaining charges, including three conspiracy
counts, or deport him.

Justice Department and immigration officials would not comment on
the deportation agreement, nor would Linda Moreno, a lawyer who
represented Al-Arian during his trial. Moreno and William Moffitt
withdrew as Al-Arian’s lawyers in March, and it was not clear who
currently represents him.

No one answered the phone at the home of Al-Arian’s wife, Nahla.

The lawyers who revealed the deal spoke on condition of anonymity,
because the agreement has not been made public by the court.

The case against Al-Arian once was hailed as a triumph of the anti-
terror USA Patriot Act, which allowed secret wiretaps and other
information gathered by intelligence agents to be used in criminal
prosecutions.

Al-Arian and three co-defendants were charged with running a North
American cell of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-
Arian had been under FBI surveillance at least since the mid-1990s.

At the end of a five-month trial, however, jurors said the mountain
of intercepted phone calls and other materials did not link Al-Arian
and the others directly to violent acts.

Al-Arian has lived in the United States for 30 years and holds
permanent residency status. He was reared mostly in Egypt.

He had been a computer engineering professor at the University of
South Florida but was fired after his indictment. He has been held
without bail for more than three years.

Al-Arian was a nationally known activist who organized voter
registration drives, campaigned for candidates and lobbied
politicians.

His attorneys have said he had been in the White House on four
separate occasions and met Presidents Bill Clinton and George W.
Bush. Al-Arian also had contact with almost two dozen political and
government leaders, including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Trent Lott
and Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert and his
predecessor, former Rep. Newt Gingrich.

The handling of Al-Arian’s case became an issue in the 2004 U.S.
Senate election in Florida, won by Republican Mel Martinez. Betty
Castor, the Democratic candidate, was the USF president when Al-
Arian was on the faculty.

� 2006 The Associated Press.