March 26, 2008

In a meeting today with Department of Justice officials, civil rights advocates and community-based organizations called on federal prosecutors to honor their plea agreement with a former Univ. of Florida professor acquitted on terrorism-related charges in 2005. Dr. Sami Al-Arian agreed to a 2006 plea agreement with federal prosecutors on the condition that he not be required to testify against others and that he be released for deportation after the end of his current sentence.

Leaders from the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Muslim Advocates and AltMuslim presented a joint letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) officials during the meeting which states, in part:

After serving five years of detention in a federal penitentiary, much of it in solitary confinement, and being acquitted of all major charges, no public interest is served by continuing to detain Dr. Al-Arian. Indeed, the public interest is best served when our government follows through on its commitments, preserves its integrity, and upholds the legitimacy of our criminal justice system.

We thus call on the U.S. Department of Justice to honor the terms of the plea agreement and immediately release Dr. Al-Arian for deportation on April 7, 2008 -- the day he is currently scheduled to have served his sentence.

Despite the plea agreement, the Justice Department subpoenaed Dr. Al-Arian to testify before another grand jury in 2008. Advocates are demanding that the Justice Department uphold their promise and not to seek to compel Dr. Al-Arian to testify against others.

"The public interest is best served when our government follows through on its commitments, preserves its integrity, and upholds the legitimacy of our criminal justice system," said Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati.

Dr. Al-Arian, a former Florida university professor, was arrested in 2003 on charges of funding terrorism. In December of 2005, a jury acquitted Dr. Al-Arian of 8 of the 17 charges brought against him and was hung on the remaining charges. In April of 2006, Dr. Al-Arian pleaded guilty to a single non-terrorism related count of conspiracy and agreed to be deported.

Despite the U.S. government's representation that Dr. Al-Arian would not be compelled to testify against others, Dr. Al-Arian was subpoenaed and jailed for refusing to testify against others. Even after a civil contempt charge was lifted in 2007, the Justice Department again subpoenaed Dr. Al-Arian to testify before another grand jury in 2008. Dr. Al-Arian has rejected this latest demand to testify and is protesting the contravention by means of a hunger strike. As a result of the strike, Dr. Al-Arian was recently transferred from his Virginia prison to a medical facility in North Carolina. He has lost nearly 30 pounds and is extremely ill due to severe dehydration.