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Acquitting a Terrorist
By Joe KaufmanâToday, the United States Department of Justice is announcing the indictment of Sami al-Arian and seven co-conspirators.â Thatâs how United States Attorney General John Ascroft began his press conference, back in February of 2003. It was a momentous day in the war on terrorism, a triumph of the Patriot Act. We caught a leader of a terrorist ring based in Tampa, Florida, and he and at least some of his compatriots were going to be brought to justice. Now, it appears justice may not have been served. Yesterday, al-Arian and his three friends were acquitted after five months of hearing testimony that seemed to point to the contrary. Of the 17 counts al-Arian was charged with, he was acquitted on eight of them, including âconspiracy to murder and maim people abroad,â the most serious charge. The remaining nine were considered a mistrial, as the jury was deadlocked on them. Two of his co-defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, were acquitted of all charges against them. The other, Hatem Naji Fariz, was found not guilty of 24 counts, and jurors deadlocked on the remaining eight. Until we hear from the jurors, itâs hard to say how this could possibly have happened. The judge in the trial, James S. Moody, had stipulated to the jury that the prosecution needed to prove that the money allegedly going from Tampa to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) was sent for the purpose of violence. Is it possible that anything related to PIJ can be disassociated with violence? It is a terrorist organization. Did the defense convince the jurors that this was all one big political demonstration against the âZionistsâ based on the Israeli-Palestinian situation? I cannot envision either of the above occurring, because I attended the trial. Along with the jurors, I watched the video of the 1991 Cleveland fundraiser, in which al-Arian begged his audience to create a Palestine âfrom the river to the sea,â concluding: Thus is the way of jihad. Thus is the way of martyrdom. Thus is the way of blood, because this is the path to heaven. Along with the jurors, I watched Fawaz Mohammed âAbuâ Damra â the individual that founded al-Qaedaâs main American headquarters in Brooklyn â call al-Arianâs Islamic Committee for Palestine the âactive arm of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine.â Sami al-Arian was present in the video. Did he disagree? Absolutely not. Rest at link. Posted by: ed 2005-12-07 |
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