To: asdnet at igc.topica.com From: Itzhak Epstein <itzhak.epstein at earthlink.net> Subject: Re: [ASDnet] Palestinian Professor Arrested in Fla. Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:16:48 -0500 Reply-To: asdnet at igc.topica.com
For more about the Al-Arian controversy's history from two perspectives see: http://www.john-loftus.com/lawsuit.asp and http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/85 Let's see what evidence the Justice Department has against him this time around.
To: <ActionCenter.actgen at action-mail.org> From: <ActionCenter.actgen at action-mail.org> (Action Center) Subject: [IAC] Statement on Dr. Sami Al-Arian's arrest Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 23:26:15 -0500
STOP BUSH & ASHCROFT'S POLITICAL TARGETING!
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition statement on the arrest of Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian
Early this morning, Thursday, February 20, 2003, FBI agents in Tampa, Florida, arrested Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor from the University of South Florida (USF). As he was led into the Tampa headquarters of the FBI, Al-Arian told reporters: "It's all about politics."
Dr. Al-Arian has gained widespread support over the last year and a half after being placed on forced leave and banned from the USF campus shortly after September 11. Almost one year ago, on February 21, 2002, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Mac Cauley, issued a statement acknowledging that Dr. Al- Arian was under investigation.
Today and for many years, Samia Al-Arian has been targeted by the government,
media and academic establishment because he is a consistent and outspoken supporter of the right of the Palestinian people to live free from occupation, as well as a proponent of civil liberties and civil rights.
Dr. Al-Arian is among several others arrested by the FBI today; there were other arrests in Florida and Illinois. They are among thousands of people of Middle Eastern decent and other immigrants who have been investigated, arrested, interrogated, detained and/or deported since September 11.
Following Attorney General John Ashcroft's announcement of the 100- count indictment that charges these men with allegedly "financing, extolling
and assisting acts of terrorism," Dr. Al-Arian's attorney, Nicholas Matassini, stated: "He's a political prisoner right now as we speak." Matassini called Ashcroft's indictment "a work of fiction."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON SAMIA AL-ARIAN
Shortly after September 11, 2001, Dr. Al-Arian appeared on the fervently right-wing Fox TV's Bill O'Reilly Factor show, where O'Reilly accused him of having "terrorist connections." According to a document produced by USF faculty entitled "The United Faculty of Florida defends the Due Process rights, and Academic Freedom & Tenure rights of USF Professor Sami Al- Arian," on September 27, the USF administration suspended Dr. Al-Arian, and on December 19 they sent him a letter of dismissal, then modified this letter to state that he "wasn't fired so much as subject to being fired."
Since that time, Dr. Al-Arian and many supporters around the country have been fighting to be reinstated at USF. On April 25, 2002, the Executive Council and Delegate Assembly of the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York, American Federation of Teachers Local 2334, passed a resolution in support of Dr. Al-Arian, and on June 20, 2002, American Federation of Teachers President Sandra Feldman sent a letter to USF President Judy Genshaft in supporting his rights.
On December 16, 2002, a federal district court judge dismissed a case brought by USF which asked the court to clarify the constitutional issues surrounding the firing. USF brought the case in an attempt to bolster support and confidence in proceeding with the firing, but the court dismissed the case and left it to the USF administration to either fire or reinstate Dr. Al-Arian. USF President Genshaft said her plan was the former.
According to the Academic Free Speech website, which is devoted supporting Dr. Al-Arian in his struggle to resume teaching at USF, Dr. Sami Al-Arian's family is from Jerusalem and Jaffa, Palestine. He was born in Kuwait, lived in Egypt, and then studied at Southern Illinois University and North Carolina State University. He became a professor at USF in 1986, has received tenure, several teaching awards, and has over forty published works.
Dr. Al-Arian has helped to establish several organizations, including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA, est. 1981) and many affiliated organizations. In 1990, he co-founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), a research and academic institution. In 1997, Dr. Al- Arian helped to found the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, which has fought against the arrest, imprisonment and deportation of Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar; and in the same year co-founded the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, which he was elected the president of in 2000. Dr. Al- Najjar is Dr. Al-Arian's brother-in-law, who in 2002 was deported after being held in U.S. jails without charges for nearly five years using "secret evidence."
The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition joins the organizations and individuals worldwide
who are condemning Bush's and Ashcroft's political targeting of Dr. Al- Arian.
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