In February 2003 federal cops arrested Al-Arian, a professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, on charges of “racketeering, conspiracy to maim and murder,” and providing “material support” to the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was jailed, denied bail, put in solitary confinement, and fired from his job. Numerous demonstrations and meetings were organized by his defenders.

In December 2005 the U.S. government’s case against Al-Arian collapsed when a jury acquitted him and two others of “terrorism” charges. Federal prosecutors were unable to link Al-Arian or other defendants to any “terrorist” acts during the five-month trial, despite presenting nearly 80 witnesses, 1,800 faxes, wiretap transcripts, and e-mails. After the verdict, Al-Arian was returned to prison while the government decided on whether to retry him on some of the deadlocked charges or to seek to deport him.

In April, Al-Arian accepted a plea agreement on a charge of “conspiracy to provide services” to an organization labeled “terrorist” by Washington. This conviction allowed the U.S. government to deport him.

Al-Arian, however, has refused to answer questions from the grand jury, saying that cooperating with the grand jury amounted to a “forced cooperation [that] violated the plea agreement” he made with prosecutors in Tampa. Al-Arian, who was due to be released from prison and deported in April, now he could be imprisoned until November 2008.
 
 
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U.S. gov’t caught spying on peace groups  
 
 
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