| Sami Amin Al-Arian | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 14, 1958 Kuwait (to Palestinian parents) |
| Alias(es) | Amin; The Secretary; Abu Abdullah[1] |
| Conviction(s) | Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of a "specially designated terrorist" organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, after a trial in which he was acquitted on 8 of 17 counts, and the jury deadlocked on the remaining 9 counts (February 28, 2006)[2][3] |
| Penalty | Conspiracy to aid terrorists: 57 months in prison, and deportation (May 1, 2006);[3] and Civil contempt: served 13 months in prison for civil contempt before judge lifted his order (November 16, 2006)[4] |
| Status | House arrest; awaiting trial on criminal contempt charges |
| Occupation | Former professor of computer engineering |
| Spouse | Nahla Al-Arian[5] |
| Parents | Amin Al-Arian (father); Laila Al-Arian (mother)[6] |
| Children | Laila, Leena, and Lama Al-Arian (daughters), Abdullah and Ali Al-Arian (sons)[7] |
Dr. Sami Amin Al-Arian (Arabic: سامي العريان; born January 14, 1958, in Kuwait, to Palestinian parents), is a former resident of Temple Terrace, Florida, now living in Northern Virginia, who is a Muslim activist, and former University of South Florida professor of computer engineering. He pled guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the Palestine Islamic Jihad, a Specially Designated Terrorist organization.[2][8]
He was indicted in 2003 on multiple counts related to supporting a Palestinian group on the State Department's terrorist list. At his trial the jury acquitted on 8 of 17 counts, and deadlocked on the remaining 9 counts. He then pleaded guilty in 2006, pursuant to a plea agreement, to conspiracy to help a "specially designated terrorist" organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[2][3][9] Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison, given credit for time served, and ordered deported following his prison term.[3] He was to serve the balance of 19 months.
In November 2006, because he refused to testify before a federal grand jury after the court held that he had no legal basis for his refusal, he was held in civil contempt and imprisoned for his contempt of court by a Virginia district court judge.[4] He served 13 months in prison for his civil contempt, until the court lifted its contempt order in December 2007.[4]
In 2007 and 2008, the United States Department of Justice subpoenaed Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury. He again refused to testify, and prosecutors charged him with criminal contempt in June 2008.[10][11] In September 2008, Al-Arian was released from detention on bond.[12] He remains under house arrest, as he awaits a trial on criminal contempt charges.[13][14]
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Al-Arian was born in Kuwait, one of five children of Amin and Laila Al-Arian, Palestinian refugees.[6] In 1966, the family moved to Egypt.[7] According to Al-Arian, the government made them leave because his father refused to become an informant for Kuwaiti intelligence.[7]
He was raised in Cairo, Egypt, and has a brother named Khaled Al-Arian.[5][15][16][17][18] His wife's brother, Mazen Al-Najjar, a former University of South Florida engineering instructor, was jailed in the U.S. from 1997 to the end of 2000, on secret evidence that he helped support terrorists through an Islamic research center and charity he founded with Al-Arian. His brother-in-law was deported on August 22, 2002.[19]
He is married to Nahla Al-Arian, and they have five children.[20] His son Abdullah Al-Arian was an intern for U.S. Representative David E. Bonior in 2001.[21] Al-Arian's eldest daughter, Laila Al-Arian, is a producer for Al Jazeera English in Washington, DC, and a freelance journalist and contributor to the Huffington Post[22] and The Nation.[23]
Al-Arian came to the U.S. in August 1975, on an Egyptian passport and a student visa, to attend Southern Illinois University.[1][17][24] He became a permanent resident alien of the U.S. on March 27, 1989.[1][17] On December 30, 1993, he allegedly filed a false application with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to become a U.S. citizen.[1][17] He was denied U.S. citizenship in 1996.[25]
Al-Arian obtained his B.S., graduating in 1978 with a major in Electrical Sciences and Systems Engineering from Southern Illinois University,[6] and completed his M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in 1980 and 1986 respectively, from North Carolina State University. In 1981, Al-Arian helped establish the Islamic Society of North America.
On January 27, 1986, he was hired as an assistant professor in the Computer Sciences Department of the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa.[5][24] He also established the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) on October 20, 1988,[17][24] purportedly to raise awareness of the plight of the Palestinians; allegedly, however, it was part of a criminal enterprise with PIJ.[1][9][17][20] ICP meetings were attended by Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted of plotting to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993, and Abdul Aziz Odeh, the Islamic Jihad's spiritual leader.[7]
On February 21, 1991, he and his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), an academic institution whose purpose was purportedly to promote dialogue between the Muslim and Western worlds.[1][17][24] Allegedly, however, it also was part of a criminal enterprise with PIJ.[1][17][24][26]
In 1991, at an Islamic rally Al-Arian said: "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel", and at another: "Let us damn America, let us damn Israel, let us damn them and their allies until death".[5][27][28] On April 17, 1991, he allegedly gave a speech in which he again spoke in favor of jihad, and praised individuals who had escaped from prison with the help of the PIJ, and then killed a number of people.[1][17] On September 29, 1991, he said in a speech at a Chicago conference that Allah had made Jews "monkeys and swine", "cursed those who are the sons of Israel", and damned Jews in this world and the afterworld.[1][5][7][17][29]
On April 27, 1992, he allegedly modified computer files at WISE/ICP that contained the wills of three PIJ suicide bombers.[1][17] On June 3, 1993, he allegedly sent moneys to families of four PIJ terrorists who had killed three Israelis.[1][17]
He was Chairman of the Board of the Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF) from its August 1992 founding until at least June 2002; allegedly, it was used by the PIJ to provide some of its members as cover as employees.[1][17] Steven Emerson, a former CNN investigative correspondent and U.S. News and World Report senior editor, made a 1994 PBS documentary, Jihad in America, that said that Al-Arian is an Islamic extremist and heads the PIJ in the U.S.[7][30]
Al-Arian performed services for the PIJ in 1995 and thereafter, knowing that it achieved its objectives by violence, among other means, and that it had been declared a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S.[2] Among other things, he filed for immigration benefits for people associated with the PIJ, hid the identities of individuals associated with the PIJ, and provided assistance to a person associated with the PIJ in a U.S. court proceeding.[2]
After a terrorist attack by PIJ killed 19 Israelis, Al-Arian wrote a February 1, 1995, letter saying:
The link with the brothers in Hamas is very good and making steady progress, and their [sic] are serious attempts at unification and permanent coordination. I call upon you to try to extend true support to the jihad effort so that operations such as these can continue... so operations like the one by the two mujahideen [warriors] who were martyred for the sake of God [can continue].[24][31]
Al-Arian said that the letter was a response to a friend's question about the relationship between PIJ and Hamas, and whether to support them, and that in his letter: "I ask others to support them, but I don't support them personally."[31] On February 10, 1995, he allegedly requested monies from Ismael al-Shatti in Kuwait to support PIJ suicide bombings.[1][17]
In 1995, the FBI opened a criminal investigation of Al-Arian after Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, a professor whom he had helped bring to Tampa and appointed head of WISE, suddenly left after the PIJ's head was killed, and re-emerged in Syria one month later on October 31, 1995, as the new head of the PIJ.[24][28] Al-Arian said he was shocked to learn Shallah was "anything other than a scholar."[28] In October 1995, he lied to a journalist for the St. Petersburg Times as to his knowledge of Shallah's activities, saying that Shallah had only been involved in scholarly work.[2] On November 20, 1995, the FBI raided his home, his office at USF, and the offices of the ICP and WISE.[7][24]
From May 2, 1996, until August 1998, he was on paid administrative leave from USF pending the outcome of a federal investigation into whether he was running fronts for terrorist organizations.[24][30] In 1997, he co-founded the Tampa Bay Coalition for Peace and Justice, which focused on the use of secret evidence and other civil rights issues in antiterrorism and immigration acts adopted in 1996.
Al-Arian met then-candidate George W. Bush at a campaign event at the Florida Strawberry Festival in March 2000, and Bush and his wife posed for a photo with Al-Arian and his family.[5][32] Al-Arian later claimed to have spoken to Bush about the government use of "secret evidence" in deportation proceedings against accused terrorists. When Bush subsequently brought up the issue in a debate with Al Gore, Al-Arian was reportedly "thrilled—and began registering local Muslims to vote, and promoting Bush's candidacy at local mosques." He also lobbied Congress on civil liberties matters, contributed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of influential members of Congress, and renounced violence during television appearances.[33]
On August 18, 2000, he allegedly directed Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi to use Al-Arian's daughter's email address to communicate with Al-Arian.[1][17] On October 10, 2000, he made hand-edited revisions to the PIJ charter, which were incorporated into a clean copy of the charter.[1][17] He also co-founded the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, to oppose the use of secret evidence, and was elected its first president in 2000.[20]
In June 2001, Al-Arian joined 160 Muslim-American activists in a White House briefing with Bush senior advisor Karl Rove.[5][32] His son Abdullah Al-Arian was the subject of national media attention when he was escorted out of another June 2001 White House event by the Secret Service without explanation, prompting an apology by President George W. Bush.[5][21][32] On August 29, testifying at his brother-in-law's deportation hearing in federal court, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 99 times so as not to answer questions such as whether he had engaged in fund-raising on behalf of organizations on the United States Department of State watch list.[34]
On September 26, 2001, he appeared on The O'Reilly Factor talk show, and Bill O'Reilly asked him about his connections to PIJ head Ramadan Abdullah Shallah and to Tarik Hamdi, a former manager of WISE who was linked to al-Qaeda during the trial of four men convicted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, and who set up an interview for Osama bin Laden with ABC.[35][36] Al-Arian said as to Shallah, he was "shocked like everyone else in the world ... he became the leader of the jihad movement."[36] He also said he would be shocked that Hamdi is on a list of suspected terrorists.[36] Asked about his having said "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel." in a 1988 speaking engagement in Cleveland, he said: "Let me just put it into context... When you say 'Death to Israel,' you mean death to occupation, death to apartheid, death to oppression, death to... [but] absolutely not [death to any human being]."[36] He also said that it came as a shock to him that his brother-in-law was being deported.[36] O'Reilly closed by saying:
Well, Doctor, you know, with all due respect ... if I [were] the CIA, I'd follow you wherever you went. I'd follow you 24 hours... I'd be your shadow, Doctor... I'd go to Denny's with you, and I'd go everywhere you went.[36]
Later that month, after receiving a dozen death threats against Al-Arian and after funding sources threatened to cut off grants, USF placed him on paid leave, saying it was doing so in the interests of safety for its faculty, staff, and students.[7][37] Although described by many students as a popular teacher, 22 of the university's 48 student senators voted to support his ouster—as the rest either abstained, or didn't show up.[38] On December 19, 2001, USF's Board of Trustees voted 12–1 vote for his dismissal.[24][39] On February 26, 2003, Al-Arian was fired from his position at USF, which had been tenured since March 1992.[28][40]
On February 20, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Al-Arian had been arrested as the alleged leader of the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the U.S., and Secretary of the PIJ's central worldwide governing group (the "Shura Council").[8][17] It also charged three others living in the U.S., as well as four outside the U.S.[8][17] These included Al-Arian's long-time top USF/WISE associate Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, who had been designated a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S. in 1995, and was accused of being Secretary General of the PIJ.[8][17][40]
The PIJ was identified as an international terrorist organization, with cells throughout the world, that supports jihad and martyrdom, responsible for the deaths of among others Americans Alisa Flatow (20 years old) and Shoshana Ben-Yishai (16 years old).[1][8][17] In 1995 the PIJ, Syrian-based and largely financed by Iran, had been designated a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S., and in 1997 it had been designated a "foreign terrorist organization".[1][2][17][28][40]
A 50-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Tampa charged the defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) with operating a racketeering enterprise from 1984 that engaged in violent activities, as well as: conspiracy within the U.S. to kill and maim persons abroad, conspiracy to provide material support and resources to PIJ, conspiracy to violate emergency economic sanctions, engaging in various acts of interstate extortion, perjury, obstruction of justice, and immigration fraud.[1][8][17] The indictment alleged a ten-year conspiracy to support PIJ worldwide, help solve internal PIJ disputes and financial problems, help disseminate PIJ claims it was responsible for terrorist attacks in Israel, and raise funds within the U.S. for "violent jihad."[17] It alleged numerous PIJ-associated terrorist acts, resulting in the murders of over 100 people in Israel and the Occupied Territories.[8][17] It claimed that PIJ, ICP, and WISE operated together as an illegal enterprise.[1][17] It also alleged that the defendants used USF, where some of them were teachers or students, as cover and as a means to bring other PIJ members into the U.S., purportedly for academic meetings and conferences.[1][17]
Attorney General John Ashcroft said that Al-Arian and his co-defendants played:
a substantial role in international terrorism. They are 'material supporters' of foreign terrorist organizations. They finance ... and assist acts of terror. Our message to them is clear: We make no distinction between those who carry out terrorist attacks, and those who knowingly finance, manage, or supervise terrorist organizations.[8]
Al-Arian told reporters: “it’s all about politics”, and his attorney labeled the indictment a “work of fiction.”[33]
The indictment was later expanded into a 53-count superseding indictment in September 2004.[1] It charged Al-Arian with: 1) conspiracy to commit racketeering; 2) conspiracy to murder or maim persons outside the U.S.; 3) conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization (the PIJ); 4) conspiracy to make and receive contributions of funds, goods, and services for the benefit of Specially Designated Terrorists (the PIJ); 5) use of the mail or any facility in interstate or foreign commerce to promote unlawful activity; 6) providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization; 7) money laundering; 8) attempt to procure naturalization unlawfully; and 9) obstruction of justice.[1]
Al-Arian was tried with co-defendants Ghassan Ballut, Hatim Fariz, and Sameeh Hammoudeh in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, beginning on June 6, 2005.[3] At trial, FBI agent Kerry Myers testified that the PIJ had planned an attack inside the U.S., but that all information about the plot was classified and he could not discuss it. Under cross-examination, Myers admitted that the PIJ had never carried out an attack outside Israel and the "occupied territories." Myers also testified that during its 10-year investigation of the defendants, the FBI intercepted 472,239 telephone calls on 18 tapped lines. However, none involved any discussion of an attack against the U.S. or reflected advance knowledge of attacks in the Middle East.[41] Furthermore, some of the conversations occurred before PIJ was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1995.[9]
The five-month trial featured 80 witnesses and 400 transcripts of intercepted phone conversations and faxes. At the end of the prosecution's case, Al-Arian's attorneys rested without offering a defense, and the trial concluded on November 14, 2005.[3] On December 6, 2005, after 13 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted Al-Arian on 8 of 17 counts.[3] It deadlocked on the 9 other counts.[3] The jury deadlocked on what the prosecutors described as three of the most important four conspiracy charges against Al-Arian, including the charge of conspiracy to provide services to the PIJ.[42] A co-defendant also was acquitted on some charges and faced deadlocks on others, and two co-defendants were acquitted of all charges. U.S. Justice Department officials said they were considering whether to retry Al-Arian and co-defendant Hatem Fariz on the jury deadlock charges, one of which carried a life sentence.[43]
Jurors had mixed reactions.[44] One who voted for acquittal said, "They have so little on [Al-Arian] that I'm disappointed. Most of us think he gave in because he was so sick of being in jail."[44] But one of the few jurors who believed Al-Arian was guilty on nine counts, causing a mistrial, said:
Like another person on the jury, I was convinced Mr. Al-Arian was still working with the PIJ after it was illegal. He was a very smart man and knew how not to be obvious. For me, the absence of evidence didn't mean there was no evidence. For me, it suggested a coverup, which he admitted to, in the plea agreement.[44]
On February 28, 2006, Al-Arian signed a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the PIJ, a Specially Designated Terrorist organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.[2][45] In return, the U.S. Attorney: a) agreed to dismiss the other eight remaining charges in the superseding indictment; b) agreed not to charge Al-Arian with any other crimes known to the government at the time of the execution of the agreement; c) agreed not to enter any recommendation as to the imposition or amount of a fine; d) agreed with Al-Arian that an appropriate sentence would be 46–57 months in prison; and e) covenanted that if no adverse information were received suggesting such a recommendation to be unwarranted, the U.S. would recommend that Al-Arian receive a sentence "at the low end of the applicable guideline range, as calculated by the Court".[2]
In the agreement, Al-Arian said that he was pleading guilty because he was "in fact" guilty.[2] Al-Arian admitted knowing "that the PIJ achieved its objectives by, among other means, acts of violence."[46] As part of the deal, Al-Arian agreed to be deported once his prison sentence ended.[2][42]
The plea agreement provided that it was "limited to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida and the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice, and cannot bind other federal, state, or local prosecuting authorities."[2][4] It also provided that it "constitutes the entire agreement between the government and [Al-Arian] ... and no other promises, agreements, or representations exist or have been made to [Al-Arian]".[2][4]
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said:
We have a responsibility not to allow our nation to become a safe haven for those who provide assistance to ... terrorists. Sami Al-Arian has already spent significant time behind bars, and will now lose the right to live in the country he calls home as a result of his confessed criminal conduct on behalf of the [PIJ], which is the same conduct he steadfastly denied in public statements over the past decade.[42]
At the plea agreement hearing, U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun said, " if you're satisfied you're guilty or you believe it's in your best interest to plead guilty ... let me know that." Al-Arian replied, "I believe it's in my best interest to enter a plea."[47]
The district court judge asked Al-Arian whether he had been promised anything else by anyone to induce his guilty plea, and he said that he had not.[4] The plea agreement was unsealed and accepted by Judge James S. Moody on April 17, 2006.[42] The count carried a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.[2] Al-Arian remained in custody pending his sentencing and deportation.
The deal came after 11 years of Federal Bureau of Investigation investigations, wiretaps and searches, and three and a half years of trial preparation, time Al-Arian spent in jail, most of it in solitary confinement.[47] Amnesty International said Al-Arian's pre-trial detention conditions "appeared to be 'gratuitously punitive'", and that "the restrictions imposed on Dr. Al-Arian appeared to go beyond what were necessary on security grounds and were inconsistent with international standards for humane treatment.".[48]
Supporters of Al-Arian said the agreement was reached in part to end his family's suffering and to reunite them.[46][49][50]
The Washington Post, in an editorial, said:
To hear Mr. al-Arian's family and supporters describe the plea agreement, you might think the defendant been exonerated.... By contrast, the Justice Department described the deal as if it were a big win in the war on terrorism.... In fact, both claims are bunk. [I]t ill becomes the government to claim victory. Concerning Mr. al-Arian, a sometime rallying point for advocates of free speech and academic freedom, the verdict is in: He is not only a terrorist supporter, but a liar, too.[51]
Judge Moody sentenced al-Arian to the maximum 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release on May 1, 2006, and gave him credit for time served.[3] Prosecutors said al-Arian would serve the balance of 19 months, and then be deported.
In his ruling, Moody harshly criticized al-Arian for doing nothing to stop suicide bombings perpetrated by the PIJ. "I find it interesting that you praise this country in public," he said, "the one you called Great Satan."[18] He continued:
You lifted not one finger. To the contrary, you laughed when you heard of the bombings... You are a master manipulator. The evidence is clear in this case. You were a leader of the PIJ.[3][52]
Describing the PIJ suicide bombings, the judge said: "Anyone with even the slightest bit of human compassion would be sickened. Not you, you saw it as an opportunity to solicit more money to carry out more bombings."[18] Reacting to Al-Arian's contention that he had raised money for charities, Moody said: "Your only connection to widows and orphans was that you create them."[53]
Al-Arian was subpoenaed three times to testify in terrorism-related investigations before Virginia federal grand juries between 2006 and 2008. Each time, he refused to testify. He challenged the initial subpoena in four different federal courts, each of which held that he was in fact required to testify. He was imprisoned for 13 months for civil contempt for failing to testify in compliance with the first subpoena. He is awaiting trial as well for criminal contempt for his failure to testify in compliance with the second and third subpoenas.
In May 2006, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a subpoena to Al-Arian to testify before a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, in an investigation into the alleged financing of terror by the Herndon, Virginia-based International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).[4][54] Homeland Security agent David Kane described alleged ties between Al-Arian and IIIT in an affidavit that was unsealed in 2003, saying that IIIT was once the largest contributor to a PIJ group run by Al-Arian.[54] Kane also alluded to a letter from a leader of IIIT to Al-Arian saying he considered him and leaders of the Palestinian resistance to be "a part of us and an extension of us."[55]
The subpoena was served on Al-Arian in October 2006.[4] He sought to quash it on the assertion that his plea agreement prevented his being forced to testify before the Virginia grand jury.[4] He said the government had agreed that he would not be required to cooperate with it in any manner, though that specific agreement was not reflected in the written plea agreement.[4] In a verbal agreement that he says appears in court transcripts, federal prosecutors agreed he would not have to testify in Virginia.[56]
Second, Al-Arian also said he refused to testify because he believed "his life would be in danger if he testified."[54] Third, Al-Arian claimed he has no information that could further the investigation.[54] Fourth, Al-Arian said he would not testify because he felt IIIT was inappropriately charged.[57] Finally, another explanation for his not testifying was presented by his wife, who said:
My husband is a man of principle, and he will never turn into an informant. We admire him and are proud of him. In our culture, as Palestinians, if a person becomes an informant for the government, this is very shameful.[58]
When called before the grand jury on October 19, Al-Arian refused to answer questions about IIIT.[59]
A Virginia District Court held that he had no legal basis to refuse to testify. The court held him in civil contempt, and imprisoned him on November 16, 2006, for contempt of court, with the days served for civil contempt not counting towards the days of imprisonment he had remaining on his guilty conspiracy plea.[4] He appealed the Virginia District Court decision to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed the lower court's ruling.[4] Thirteen months later, on December 14, 2007, the Virginia District Court lifted its contempt order, starting the clock ticking again on his days-served on his conspiracy guilty plea sentence.[4]
A Florida District Court also held that the plea agreement was not ambiguous, and did not prevent the government from issuing a subpoena requiring him to testify before a grand jury.[4] Al-Arian, who is diabetic, began a 60-day hunger strike on January 22, 2007, to "protest continued government harassment."[54][60] By March 20, 2007, the 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Al-Arian had gone from 202 to 149 pounds (92 to 68 kg).[56]
Al-Arian appealed the Florida District Court decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court on January 25, 2008.[4] It pointed out that the plea agreement did not contain any mention of whether Al-Arian would be compelled to testify in front of a grand jury in the future.[4] It also noted that the agreement said it reflected all promises and agreements between Al-Arian and the government, and that this accorded with Al-Arian's statement, when questioned by the trial court judge, that there were no promises or inducements made to him other than those reflected in the written agreement.[4] Furthermore, the court observed that the plea agreement only spoke to the issue of the government prosecuting Al-Arian for crimes known to the office at the time of the agreement, but did not immunize Al-Arian from future subpoenas.[4] The court therefore held the plea agreement to be clear, unambiguous, and to not grant Al-Arian immunity from the grand jury subpoena.[4] The Justice Department issued its third subpoena later that month.[57]
Professor Robert Chesney, of Wake Forest University Law School, said:
It is certainly not uncommon for the government to expect a defendant to testify in the wake of a plea agreement. In this instance, the agreement is silent on the question, and the court of appeals agrees with the government that this leaves the door open to subpoena his testimony.
In March 2008 he began another hunger strike, to protest his subpoena.[57] He ended his hunger strike two months later.[61]
A 2011 NPR report claimed some of the people associated with this case were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit.[62]
On June 26, 2008, he was indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia on two counts of criminal contempt, for unlawfully and willfully refusing court orders that he testify as a grand jury witness on October 16, 2007, and March 20, 2008.[63] On September 2, 2008, he was released from custody and put under house arrest at his daughter Laila's residence in Northern Virginia, where he is being monitored electronically while he awaits trial on criminal contempt charges.[13][14][64]
At a January 2009 hearing to schedule his trial, his attorneys filed documents saying Al-Arian "did cooperate and answer questions on IIIT" for federal prosecutors. Attorneys alleged Virginia prosecutors are "ultimately not interested in IIIT … but want to revisit the Tampa trial."[14] In a motion filed on March 4, 2009, prosecutors in Virginia acknowledged that when Al-Arian took the plea deal in early 2006, prosecutors in Tampa believed that it exempted him from testifying in other cases.[65] This affirms sworn declarations submitted to the court by Al-Arian's Florida trial attorneys, Bill Moffitt[66] and Linda Moreno.[67]
On March 9, Judge Leonie Brinkema postponed the criminal contempt trial, pending a motion by defense attorneys to dismiss the charges in the case.[68] While under federal law, Al-Arian could not be jailed for more than 18 months for civil contempt, the law does not have a time limit for criminal contempt.[69]
In the 2010 bid by Tom Campbell for the Republican nomination for Senator of California, a dispute was triggered by a letter Campbell had written to USF's president in defense of Al-Arian on January 21, 2002. Campbell said he had not been aware of the charges against Al-Arian when he wrote his letter asking USF not to discipline Al-Arian.[70][71][72] He also said he had not been aware that Al-Arian had said, in a speech, "Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel."[73] In the letter, Campbell said he had: "read a transcript of the O'Reilly Factor interview".[74] Campbell said:
I did not hear, I did not read, I was not aware of statements Sami Al-Arian had made relative to Israel. And I would not have written the letter had I known about those. ... To say 'Death to Israel' is abhorrent, it's horrible.[73]
Campbell said he erred in not researching Al-Arian more thoroughly before writing his letter, that while he was not aware he "should have" been aware of Al-Arian's statements, and that he now regrets having written the letter.[70][73][75][76] “I was wrong,” he said.[75] “I should not have done so. I regret it.”[75]
USA vs. Al-Arian is an award-winning 2007 documentary film by Norwegian director Line Halvorsen about Al-Arian and his family during and after his trial from his family's point of view, and a commentary on the U.S. justice system under the Patriot Act.[77][78]