Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace

April 18, 2006

Citizens’ Committee for Equal Justice
Media Advisory

For Immediate Release Contact Person
Agha Saeed  510-299-9313

Dr. Al-Arian’s Incarceration to End Soon

The Citizens Committee for Equal Justice (CCEJ), an organization
dedicated to promoting due process and equal justice for all, has
issued the following statement regarding the recent agreement between
Dr. Al-Arian and the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of
Florida:

This Agreement was reached after a federal jury had acquitted Dr. Al-
Arian on eight of seventeen charges and was deadlocked 10 to 2 in Dr.
Al-Arian’s favor on the remaining nine. The final outcome of the
this three-year long trial is summed up by the Washington
Post: “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.”

Dr. Agha Saeed, the Convener of CCEJ, hailed the Agreement as “a
victory for Dr. Al-Arian, his family and the Palestinian people. It
is a matter of public record that Dr. Al-Arian has won his freedom by
acknowledging, asserting, and upholding his support for Palestine and
Palestinians.”

Dr. Al-Arian has signed this agreement on the advice of his two
attorneys and several legal consultants. All of them had agreed that
regardless of the outcome of the retrial on the remaining 9 charges,
Dr. Al-Arian would be deported at the end of that lengthy process.

“This is a clear recognition of defeat by the government,” former
majority whip, U S House of Representatives, David Bonior
says. “Hopefully we will now ban the use of secret evidence and
respect the fundamental principles of our own constitution.”

The U.S. Attorney has agreed to recommend that the judge impose the
low end of the possible period of incarceration. Thus Dr. Al-Arian
could be released in May of this year. At the time of sentencing all
remaining Counts will be dismissed. Dr. Al-Arian has agreed to give
up his US resident status and leave the US.

“What’s most significant in this plea deal is the absence of any
reference to any act of violence or incitement to violence on the
part of Dr. Al-Arian. Nor was there any mention of financing any
violence. I’m now more convinced than ever that this was a political
case against advocates of the Palestinian cause,” former US
Congressman Paul Findley said.

“The Government’s handling of the case against Dr. Al-Arian casts a
dark shadow over the fairness of prosecutors in dealing with cases
where a jury acquits on most charges and hangs up 10 to 2 for
acquittal on the remaining ones,” Pete McCloskey, former Deputy
District Attorney, Alameda County, California, observed. “In most
cases of this kind the Government would either grant an immediate new
trial or dismiss the charges. That Dr. Al-Arian has been held
without bail for over three years indicates that political forces
have played a role in the prosecutor’s decisions. There is no place
for this in the American system of justice.”

Civil rights attorney Eric Vickers observed; “It’s obvious that this
plea agreement was the government’s attempt to save face in order to
end this case. After its tremendous defeat and embarrassment, the
government is dropping all the remaining charges in exchange for this
plea of guilt by Dr. Al-Arian essentially for helping secure the
release of his brother-in-law who was detained on secret evidence.
I’m very happy for the Al-Arian family, but sad for our state of
affairs.”

“As a symbol of Palestinian resistance, Dr. Al-Arian remains
steadfast in his twin struggles for civil liberties and Palestinian
freedom – for the rule of law at home and the rule of international
law abroad,” Abdeen Jabara, a legal advisor to the Al-Arian Defense
Committee, said. “Dr. Al-Arian remains firmly committed to both
struggles.”

Dr. Al-Arian’s case has been iconic of the moral and intellectual
resistance to the assault on the Palestinian people’s struggle for
freedom and the rights of supporters of that struggle in the United
States.

“Dr. Al-Arian’s involvement in that struggle was similar to that of
the Underground Railroad that sought to protect slaves escaping from
the brutal conditions of slavery in the South”, Dr. Agha Saeed, the
Convener of the CCEJ, said.

Under this agreement, Dr. Al-Arian, his long-suffering family and the
entire Muslim community will be spared the further grinding ordeal of
another lengthy and expensive trial in an atmosphere clouded by
uncertainty and fear.

“Delighted as I am to learn that Sami Al-Arian will at last be
released from jail,” notes University of Maryland Professor Charles
Butterworth, “I am terribly saddened about what the agreement says
about justice in the country of my birth and allegiance. It is a
poignant indication that Arabs and Muslims have little to expect from
the American justice system, especially if they speak out for the
liberation of Palestine. But we should not let this deter us from
trying to make the US safe for Arabs and Muslims.”

-End-