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Posted on Mar 7, 2008

Dr. Al-Arian’s Third Strike

By Chris Hedges

The Palestinian activist Dr. Sami

Amin Al-Arian, imprisoned for five
years despite a jury’s failure to
return a single guilty verdict
against him, has gone on a hunger
strike in Northern Neck Regional Jail
in Warsaw, Va. Al-Arian, who has
abstained from food and water
since March 3, began his hunger
strike after being informed he
would be called before a third
grand jury. He has lost 15 pounds
and has been moved to the jail’s
medical unit.
On (hunger) strike: Dr. Sami Amin Al-Arian
“A great nation is ultimately
defined and judged by its system of justice,” Al-Arian said in a statement released
through his family. “When the system is manipulated by the powerful and tolerates
abuses against the minorities or the weak members of society, the government not
only loses its moral authority and betrays future generations, but will also be
condemned by history.”
The hunger strike is the third by the Palestinian activist, who was to have been
released in April and deported. During his first hunger strike, which lasted 140 days,
he took liquid nutrients and lost 45 pounds. During his hunger strike last year, which
lasted 60 days, he drank only water and lost 55 pounds. Al-Arian is a diabetic.
“We are very worried about his health, but we understand why he’s doing this,” said
his daughter, Laila Al-Arian. “The U.S. government, through its vindictive and
politically motivated behavior, has given our family no other option.”
The recent documentary “USA vs Al-Arian” detailed the absurdity of the show trial
held in Florida and the hollowness of the government’s case against Al-Arian. When
the film was awarded Best Nordic Documentary at the Nordic Panorama in Finland
the jury wrote: “The film shows precisely how a common man becomes a victim of
the situation in the contemporary world, where the Big Brother is watching you even
when you´re ordering pizza.”
The decision to call Al-Arian before the grand jury was made although Al-Arian had
signed a “no-cooperation” agreement. The agreement stipulated that he would not
be required to cooperate with the government in other cases. The government’s
attempt to force him to testify, despite the agreement, came a month before his
scheduled release. It is seen by his lawyers and his family as an effort by the
government to keep the activist in jail indefinitely.
Al-Arian endured a six-month show trial in Florida that saw the government’s case
collapse. The Justice Department spent an estimated $50 million and several years
investigating and prosecuting Al-Arian. The government called 80 witnesses and
subjected the jury to hundreds of hours of often absurd phone transcriptions and
recordings made over a 10-year period, which the jury dismissed as “gossip.” Out of
the 94 charges made against the four defendants, there were no convictions. Of the
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17 charges against Al-Arian—including “conspiracy to murder and maim persons
abroad’’—the jury acquitted him of eight and was hung on the rest. The jurors
disagreed on the remaining charges, with 10 of the 12 jurors favoring his full
acquittal. Two others in the case, Ghassan Ballut and Sameeh Hammoudeh, were
acquitted of all charges, dealing another body blow to the government’s case.
Following the acquittal, a disaster for the government, especially because then-
Attorney General John Ashcroft had announced the indictment, prosecutors
threatened to retry Al-Arian. The Palestinian professor, under duress, accepted a plea
bargain agreement that would spare him a second trial, saying in his agreement that
he had helped people associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad with immigration
matters. It was a tepid charge given the high profile of the case. The U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Middle District of Florida and the counter-terrorism section of the Justice
Department agreed to recommend to the judge the minimum sentence of 46 months.
But U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. sentenced Dr. Al-Arian to the maximum 57
months. In referring to Al-Arian’s contention that he had only raised money for
Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s charity for widows and orphans, the judge said acidly to
the professor that “your only connection to orphans and widows is that you create
them.”