SAMI AL-ARIAN MUST BE
FREED
OP-ED
Dr. Agha Saeed and Prof. Parvez Ahmed
"Are there any political prisoners in the
Dr. Sami Al-Arian sits today in a
Since March 3rd, Al-Arian has been on a hunger strike to protest
his treatment by the government, causing him to lose more than 30 pounds and
resulting in severe dehydration, headaches and weakness.
Throughout Dr. Al-Arian's five-year ordeal, it has been clear
that he was being targeted not for his actions, but for his political views on
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His outspokenness about
Since his arrest on Feb. 20, 2003, Al-Arian has proclaimed his
innocence and until today maintains that the charges were purely political.
Almost three years after his arrest, and after government prosecutors spent
some $50 million taxpayer dollars, a federal jury reached the same conclusion.
The Bush administration's evidence in the six-month trial
consisted largely of speeches Al-Arian gave, magazines he edited, lectures he
presented, articles he wrote, books he owned, conferences he organized, rallies
he attended, and news he heard. In one particularly bizarre instance, the
evidence consisted of a conversation a co-defendant had with Dr. Al-Arian in a
dream.
Because the government failed to prove its case, Al-Arian's
lawyers rested their case without presenting a single witness. They simply
pointed to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as their defense.
In December 2005, Dr. Al-Arian was acquitted of 8 of the 17
charges against him, though the jury voted 10 to 2 for full acquittal. Two of
Dr. Al-Arian's co-defendants were fully acquitted. The jury did not return a
single guilty verdict in over 100 charges. Time magazine called Dr. Al-Arian's
acquittal "the biggest defeat for the Bush Administration to date."
SEE: No
Convictions Against Al-Arian (
Following the trial, the government had the option of dropping
the charges but chose not to, once again revealing the political nature of his
case.
Facing the prospect of a new trial that would drain his family
emotionally and financially, Dr. Al-Arian decided to sign a plea agreement
admitting to one charge of helping associates of a terrorist group with
immigration and legal matters.
In return, the government reportedly promised to drop the
remaining charges, recommend the minimum sentence and allow him to leave the
country. But his release date, scheduled for last April, has since been
postponed indefinitely.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg
is now trying to force Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury in
We believe the saga of Dr. Sami
Al-Arian is a repeat of past incidents in American history in which our
government targeted individuals using unconstitutional and un-American tactics.
Just as it took an act of Congress to reverse the excesses of
the past, so too must Congress now initiate oversight hearings on the actions
of the Bush administration in this case.
It is time for Congress or the courts to put an end to the
torture of an outspoken critic of those have invaded and taken away his homeland.
Anything less perpetrates the perception that the war on terror is being used
to silence those who dare to criticize American complicity in
It is time for the American people to demand an end to the abuse
of the Constitution. It is time for Sami Al-Arian to
go free and to join his family overseas.
Dr. Agha Saeed is National Chair of the American Muslim
Alliance (AMA) and the American Muslim Taskforce; Prof. Parvez
Ahmed is Chairman of the Board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).