April 15, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va.– Immigration officials on Monday afternoon removed Dr. Sami Al-Arian from the Howard County Detention Center in Maryland to an undisclosed detention facility. Dr. Al-Arian, who entered the seventh week of a hunger strike on April 14, had been kept in punitive conditions over the weekend, denied medical monitoring and forced to endure the harsh environment of the segregation unit of the detention center.

Yesterday, while in a temporary holdover cell at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Virginia, Dr. Al-Arian was given a brief visit with family members.

Dr. Al-Arian’s daughter, Laila, said officials called the family and offered them an opportunity to visit with him before he was transferred to another facility. “We had been requesting a visit since last week, but since he is constantly moved, we have not seen him in some time. It was especially urgent because my mother had only seen him once during her trip here and she is going back to Egypt on Tuesday,” she said.

Nahla, the wife of Dr. Al-Arian, said, “We are grateful to the immigration officials for granting us this visit, and we hope they fulfill their obligation toward our family and deport Sami as soon as possible so that he may finally come back to us. It’s been more than five years. We just want this nightmare to end.”

Dr. Al-Arian’s family reports that the visit lasted thirty minutes and that they saw met him behind a glass partition. Having not seen him in over two weeks, they reacted strongly to the toll Dr. Al-Arian’s hunger strike has taken on his body. “He’s lost 35 pounds,” said his son, Abdullah. “He is far thinner and weaker than the last time we saw him. I don’t know how much more of this he can take. The government needs to release him, if for nothing else, than for his life.”

Mrs. Al-Arian was also traumatized by witnessing her husband in his current state. “He looked like he’d been through a concentration camp. We want him to stop the hunger strike but he feels he has no other choice. This indefinite imprisonment has torn our family apart. We have had to suffer through three different release dates without him ever being freed.”

The family of Dr. Al-Arian has renewed its call for the government to release him, as stipulated by the plea agreement. Although he has been transferred into the custody of immigration authorities, officials have given no indication if they plan to deport Dr. Al Arian. On March 3, a federal judge issued a third order for Dr. Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury. He has continued to refuse to testify, on the basis of a plea agreement signed with prosecutors that promised him non-cooperation and expedited deportation.

“It is especially urgent that all supporters of justice for my father become involved at this critical stage,” said Laila Al-Arian. “His life is on the line. Our government must do the right thing and let him go. We believe that if they hear from the thousands of concerned citizens and supporters, they will do the right thing. But there isn’t much time.”

The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace urges all conscientious individuals and organizations to contact elected officials as well as the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, to demand an end to the injustice against Dr. Al-Arian once and for all.

TALKING POINTS:

• As of April 11, 2008, Dr. Al-Arian’s term of imprisonment has concluded. The plea agreement stipulates that he be given expedited deportation and as such, he should be allowed to leave the country immediately.
• Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have abused the grand jury process to keep Dr. Al-Arian detained for more than a year beyond his original sentence. They continue to threaten further action with the latest court order seeking his testimony.
• The plea agreement removed all standard language that would allow the government to pursue cooperation. Florida prosecutors have admitted, on the record, that Dr. Al-Arian explicitly requested non-cooperation, and that they agreed to his request.
• Dr. Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike since March 3, 2008. For the first 18 days, he abstained from both food and water. Since then, he has only taken water. He has lost 35 pounds and his life is in danger. His release is requested not only on legal grounds, but humanitarian grounds as well. This case has drawn international attention and has dealt a severe blow to the United States of America’s domestic human rights record. Dr. Al-Arian is the most prominent political prisoner in the United States and the only one currently on a hunger strike.

FIND YOUR REPS: Go to the following website to find your representatives in the House and
Senate through your zipcode:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

ALSO PLEASE WRITE AND FAX:

Honorable Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314
Fax: (703) 299-3339

II. Press Conference to Call for the Release of Sami Al-Arian
WHEN: Today, Tuesday, April 15, 11 a.m.
WHAT: Civil rights and Islamic leaders call for release of hunger striking Palestinian
professor Sami Al-Arian
WHERE: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center, 3940
Broadway.

END.