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Al-Arian trial update: 'Martyrs' wills admitted into evidence
 Investigators discovered the wills of three Palestinian suicide attackers on a computer in an office tied to a former University of South Florida professor accused of supporting terrorists, according to testimony Thursday in his federal trial. The wills were among about 50 items a judge ruled could be showed to the jury in the trial of Sami Al-Arian and three other men charged with working in the United States to support the mission of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
| "Ummm... Not mine! Somebody left 'em there!" |
FBI agents found the wills on a computer at the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE, a Palestinian think tank founded by Al-Arian in Tampa, in a 1995 search. In one, Abdel Kamel Daher bids farewell to ''faithful friends'' and asks forgiveness because he left without saying goodbye. The 1992 attack, which killed two people and injured five in Hula, Lebanon, was attributed to the Islamic Jihad. Prosecutors did not explain how the wills came to be on the WISE computer, nor who had access to it.
Other items the judge ruled admissible included a calendar emblazoned with a Palestinian Islamic Jihad logo found during a search of Al-Arian's home, and Islamic Jihad communiqués about attacks that were faxed to Al-Arian's home. Attorneys for Al-Arian and the others say the men never supported violence and are being persecuted for pro-Palestinian views unpopular in the United States.
| "Innocent as the driven snow, y'r Honor!" |
Posted by: Seafarious 2005-07-23 |
