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| Muslim leaders demand Al-Arian's release |
| 2008-04-20 |
| As Palestinian academic Dr Sami Al-Arian completes nearly 50 day of his hunger strike in protest against his unjust jailing on terrorism charges, a coalition of Muslim leaders has demanded that the government abide by the terms it agreed to earlier and set him free after five years of imprisonment. The leaders addressing a press conference to demand Al-Arian’s freedom at the Malcolm X & Betty Shabazz Memorial Educational and Cultural Centre in Harlem this week pointed out that the Palestinian professor is being held in isolation and transferred from one holding facility to another in a seriously weakened state, and without any medical monitoring. His daughter Laila Al-Arian said that even the family does not know where he is being held. The speakers included Malaak Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz; Ramsey Clark and Sara Flounders of the International Action Centre; Imam Siraj Wahaj, Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid and Aliya Latif of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Heidi Boghosian of the National Lawyers Guild; Ghazi Khan of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights; Mahdi Brey of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; and Muhammad Salim Akhtar of the American Muslim Alliance. Refusal: Al-Arian, a tenured professor at the University of South Florida, was arrested in 2003. The then-Attorney General John Ashcroft claimed it as the “arrest of the most dangerous financier of Islamic Jihad in the Western world.” The Justice Department has spent $50 million prosecuting the case. After a six-month trial, a jury found no evidence that any crime had been committed. Despite the verdict and in violation of the terms of release and deportation set by the Justice Department, the authorities have continued to refuse to release Al-Arian. Instead, they have demanded that he give testimony against others, something he has refused to do. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 If there is one POS I despise more then Jimmuh, it is Ramsey. What a despicable impersonation of a human being. |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2008-04-20 10:31 |
| #2 Lots of names here to put on The List. Be a good time to look into where their dollars are going. Al-Arian Contempt Order Upheld A federal appeals court has upheld a contempt-of-court finding against a former Florida college professor who admitted to aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami Al-Arian. A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this afternoon that Al-Arian had no grounds to defy a subpoena from a federal grand jury investigating Muslim charities in Northern Virginia. Judges William Traxler Jr., Diana Motz, and Dennis Shedd wrote that they were "unpersuaded" by Al-Arian's argument that a plea bargain he entered into after a six-month trial in Florida on terrorism support charges excused him from having to testify before a grand jury. ... Al-Arian could serve up to 18 months in civil contempt before beginning to serve out the remaining months of his criminal sentence. Read the fine print. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-04-20 08:55 |
| #1 Ramsey Clark - how old is that turd? What sort of deal did he make with the devil to hang around so long? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-04-20 00:41 |