The Free Lance–Star: Activist renews hunger strike:
A Palestinian activist awaiting deportation is in his fourth week of a hunger strike at the Northern Neck Regional Jail, according to published reports.
[…]
Al-Arian, a 50-year-old former professor at the University of South Florida, has been jailed since federal authorities arrested him in 2003 on 17 charges of aiding a terrorist organization. After a six-month trial in Tampa in 2005, a jury acquitted Al-Arian of nine charges and deadlocked on the remaining eight.
In 2006, he accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to advising people with terrorist connections in exchange for being deported to Palestine.
Since then, an assistant U.S. attorney in Alexandria has thrice subpoenaed Al-Arian to testify before grand juries whose purposes remain secret. Al-Arian has twice refused to testify and twice been sentenced to jail for contempt. He was subpoenaed again in February.
[…]
The jail houses many federal prisoners under contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
Superintendent Jeffery W. Frazier has said that the jail does not comment on federal inmates.
freesamialarian.com
This man (if I have to call him that) helped the Palestinian Islamic Jihad for years, according to the St. Petersburg Times:
Al-Arian pleaded guilty to knowing that his brother-in-law Mazen Al-Najjar and two other colleagues, Bashir Nafi and Ramadan Shallah, were associated with the PIJ leadership and covering this up. He also admitted helping Nafi and Al-Najjar, after 1995, when it became illegal to do so because, according to evidence, they kept communicating with PIJ leaders.
And he says in the agreement that he knew of the group’s violent acts.
Here’s what the judge said:
In his ruling, Moody harshly criticized al-Arian for doing nothing to stop bombings perpetrated by Islamic Jihad.
”You lifted not one finger. To the contrary, you laughed when you heard of the bombings,” he said.
”You are a master manipulator. The evidence is clear in this case. you were a leader of the PIJ.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Japan (p. 138), and Australia.
Here’s some information about PIJ from the United Kingdom’s Home Office:
Palestinian Islamic Jihad – Shaqaqi (PIJ):
PIJ aims to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and to create an Islamic state. It opposes the existence of the state of Israel , the Middle East Peace Process and the Palestinian Authority, and has carried out suicide bombings against Isreali targets
From the Canucks:
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Description
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is a terrorist organization that operates primarily in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and other areas of the Middle East, including Lebanon and Syria. It is committed to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state in Palestine. Islamic Jihad countenances no settlement to the Arab-Israeli, Muslim-Israeli, Muslim-Jewish conflict in the region other than the complete destruction of the State of Israel. It is also opposed to moderate secular Arab regimes because they see them as corrupt and contaminated by Western secular values. From 1986 to the present, the PIJ has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli targets within Israel, southern Lebanon and the occupied territories, has been responsible for the deaths of several dozen Israelis and Palestinians, and has carried out a number of dramatic bombings. PIJ attacks have included, but are not limited to, assaults with knives, daggers, axes, grenades, car bombs, and, particularly after 1994, the use of suicide bombers. For example, on May 5, 2002, a suicide bomber pulled his explosive-laden vehicle alongside a bus near Megiddo Junction in northern Israel and then detonated the explosives, killing at least 17 Israelis and injuring dozens of others. Several of the passengers on the bus were Israeli soldiers travelling to posts in northern Israel. The military wing of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
From the Aussies:
Co-ordinating with the HAMAS military wing (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades), PIJ conducted a number of suicide bombings in the mid 1990’s in an attempt to derail the peace process. Although the Palestinian Authority (PA) pressured the PIJ to refrain from terrorist activities during the peace process in the lead up to Camp David in 2000, the PIJ continued its involvement in terrorism, and supported the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. PIJ has since been responsible for attacks inside Israel, and continues to oppose a negotiated peace settlement, rejecting the Middle East ‘road map for peace’ launched in Aqaba, Jordan on 5 June 2003 which envisages the establishment of a secular Palestinian state by the end of 2005.
The objective of PIJ is the establishment of an Islamist Palestinian state and the destruction of the state of Israel. PIJ believes Palestinian liberation and the seizure of Jerusalem for the Islamic world would serve as a catalyst for a wider Islamic revolution across the Arab and Muslim world. PIJ sees its role as a revolutionary vanguard, carrying out terrorist attacks to weaken Israel, prior to its destruction by an Islamic army.
[…]
PIJ has not acted outside the Middle East and has not targeted Western interests, however, it has threatened to target the US embassy and its personnel if it moves from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Terrorist attacks for which responsibility has been claimed by PIJ have included:
- the 22 January 1995 double suicide bombing of a military bus stop at Beit Lid near Netanya which killed 19 and injured 69. PIJ claimed responsibility for the attack. The mission was a joint PIJ/HAMAS operation;
- the 9 April 1995 suicide bombings in Netzarim and Kfar-Darom. In the first attack a bombing of an Israeli bus killed eight people, and injured over 30. In the second attack, a car bombing of a convoy of cars injured 12 people;
- the 4 March 1996 suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv shopping mall which killed 20 persons and injured 75 others;
- the 2 November 2000 car bombing of a Jerusalem outdoor market which killed two people and injured 10;
- the 20 March 2002 suicide bombing of a bus travelling from Tel Aviv to Nazareth which killed seven persons and injured about 30;
- the 5 June 2002 car bombing of a bus near Afula which killed 17 persons and injured 38;
- the 17 July 2002 double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which killed five persons and injured about 40;
- the 19 May 2003 suicide bombing at a shopping mall in Afula which killed three persons and injured 83;
- the 19 August 2003 suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem which killed 21 persons and injured over 100. HAMAS and PIJ claimed responsibility for this attack, although a senior HAMAS official later stated HAMAS was not involved;
- the 4 October 2003 suicide bombing of the Maxim restaurant in Haifa which killed 21 persons;
- the 11 January 2004 suicide bombing at an Israeli checkpoint near Janput. Aside from the suicide bomber, there were no other casualties; and
- the 27 February 2004 suicide bombing at Kfar Darom. Aside from the suicide bomber, there were no other casualties.
According to a FBI agent, PIJ planned to attack inside the United States:
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad planned an attack inside the United States, but it might have been thwarted by federal law enforcement, an FBI agent testified Tuesday afternoon. Agent Kerry Myers said all information about the plot was classified and he could not discuss it.
[…]
Defense attorney William Moffitt had asked Myers whether the Islamic Jihad ever committed a terrorist attack outside Israel or the occupied territories.
It has not, but its leaders threatened to attack the United States three times, Myers said.
[…]
“I can tell you there was a plot to commit terrorist acts in the United States,” he said. “It was interdicted, I believe.”
According to the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, 79% of PIJ’s attacks have been against “private citizens & property”.
The Iranian government provides $2,000,000 each year to PIJ (Ibid).
And, interestingly enough, PIJ is the source for Sami Al-Arian’s picture on MIPT’s site.
And then The Free Lance–Star actually puts the link for the website of a activist terrorist in an article.
How utterly disgusting…
Who the heck is this guy’s editor?
Better yet, who the hell is he?
Did you not see this part?:
and:
I played soccer with Persians, as well as both Sunni, and Shite Iraqis while in college. I knew these men and I never did anything to stop them from associating with others from their country. Should we all be jailed for simply knowing each other?
By your own account: “…a jury acquitted Al-Arian of nine charges and deadlocked on the remaining eight.”
What is it about ACQUITTED do you and others, so thirsty for revenge, not understand?
This fellow was acquitted and then made an agreement to leave the USA. He gave up a legal right to be here. Our government reneged on that agreement and kept him here, in prison, so that they could force him to appear at one kangaroo court hearing after another. No wonder he has refused to testify. He probably thinks that, since our government went back on its word, he has no incentive to cooperate, or perhaps, since he was ACQUITTED, he rightfully believes that he should be free. This man, Al-Arian, must be immediately set free.
You who applaud the acts of a government that ignores the law and wrongly imprisons people, even after an acquittal, better stop and think about what is happening. If the government ignores this fellow’s rights, then your rights go down the toilet, right along with his.
All it will take is a shift in the political winds, and the same government agencies who ignore the law in pursuit of Arabs, can be turned against us, to persecute for example, Pro-Life, heritage and religious organizations. Don’t think this is far fetched. The Clinton Administration used the FBI to infiltrate Anti-abortion groups, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and organizations deemed by the Clintonistas to be “White Separatists” or basically every traditionally conservative organization.
Insisting that our government remain within its Constitutional limits is not a soft, pro-terrorist position, but a pro-American position that will allow us to save this Republic from degenerating into a police state ruled by despots.
“…Al-Arian pleaded guilty to knowing that his brother-in-law Mazen Al-Najjar and two other colleagues, Bashir Nafi and Ramadan Shallah, were associated with the PIJ leadership.”
Yes, I read that. I still am one of those Americans who believe that we are free to assemble and associate. I am puzzled as to how Al-Arian could plead “guilty” to knowing his brother and others had associated with PIJ or any other group. He could have admitted concealing this information, but I don’t see what he could be convicted of with regard to not fully divulging all known associations both he and his friends may or may not have.
Shall we indict most of the U.S. State Department’s Near East Asian bureau for meeting with Arabs who have known PLO or Al Queada members? Bush knows the House of Saud, who also knows Bin Laden, so jail Bush and his henchmen.
I knew members of the SDS when I was in college. None of the people I knew did anything wrong, beyond the usual anti-war protests. Were our members guilty of crimes if we refused to identify, to the government, other SDS members, who, to our knowledge had committed no crimes? No.
When Hillary or Obama gets into power, will you agree that you must tell the government about all of the people who you know who are fundamentalist Christians, Pro-Lifers or libertarian-minded Republicans?
Had Al-Arian been a NASCAR driver from Southwest Virginia, instead of an Arab, you and others would be screaming about the injustice of being wrongfully held after being acquitted. You would, no doubt, point out that Mr. NASCAR had won a verdict in court and must be set free.
We must preserve our Constitution, our Liberty, and refuse to let post 9/11 hysteria allow us to be led into passive acceptance of a totalitarian state in place of our Constitutional Republic.
Just keep this fundamental precept straight and you should be OK: It doesn’t matter how often the Cops/government says you are guilty, if you are acquitted in a court of law, then you are, not guilty.
J.,
SDS is a little (okay, a lot) before my time but I don’t recall them doing any suicide bombings or trying to take over Washington D.C. [Jerusalem] as part of a wider Socialist/Communist [Islamic] revolution.