[Peace-discuss] Review of life of Dr. Al-Arian

[Robert Dunn]

He should have gotten the death penalty! He is back on the loose, joining David Green in supporting financially and spiritually Islamofascism!


Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 07:24:20 -0700From: davegreen84 at yahoo.comTo: peace-discuss at anti-war.netSubject: [Peace-discuss] Review of life of Dr. Al-ArianTampa Bay Coalition for Justice and PeaceMay 25, 2008Another Milestone for Dr. Al-Arian Spent in PrisonVIRGINIA-- This past week, Dr. Sami Al-Arian marked the 33rdanniversary of his arrival to the United States. Dr. Al-Arian, who iscurrently being held at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail inPortsmouth, Virginia, awaits deportation by immigration officialswhile a Virginia prosecutor attempts to keep Dr. Al-Arian imprisonedindefinitely.On April 11, Dr. Al-Arian completed his sentence, following anadditional year spent in civil contempt for his refusal to testifybefore a grand jury. A plea agreement reached with the government in2006 called for Dr. Al-Arian's immediate release and deportation andpromised to protect him from cooperation. After spending more thanfive years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, Dr. Al-Arian has spent the last six weeks in legal limbo -not serving asentence and not charged, but not allowed to leave the country.On May 21, 2008, Dr. Al-Arian spent the 33rd anniversary of hisarrival to the United States in a 7 x 10 cell in a rural Virginiajail. The son of Palestinian refugees, Dr. Al-Arian, 50, arrived tothe U.S. from Egypt in 1975 as a 17 year-old college freshman.He completed his graduate studies almost a decade later, receiving adoctorate in computer engineering and beginning a successful academiccareer at the University of South Florida in Tampa. While there, hebecame an award-winning tenured professor. He authored a number ofarticles in his field and chapters in textbooks and won severalprestigious research grants for his university. Dr. Al-Arian's workin the classroom consistently garnered high praise from students andcolleagues alike.In 1979, he married Nahla Al-Najjar, another Palestinian refugee, whobecame the source of love, guidance, and support for her husband asthey embarked on a mission to build a family and a community. Dr. Al-Arian credits his wife with sharing his devotion and passion forcommunity building and activism. She was a pioneer for the inclusionof women in leadership positions within the American Muslimcommunity. Along with their five children, they lived in Tampa until2007 when Mrs. Al-Arian and their two youngest children departed forEgypt, where they eagerly await Dr. Al-Arian's release anddeportation.In addition to his professional career, Dr. Al-Arian devoted muchtime and energy to the building of civic institutions to enhance thelife of the growing American Muslim community. He has played anintegral role in founding and expanding some of the largest nationalorganizations, including the Muslim Students Association (MSA) andthe Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Locally, he founded theIslamic Community of Tampa Bay at the Al-Qassam mosque. At itsheight, the mosque boasted thousands of congregants and became aleading participant in some of the most important local charitablework, including the annual Feed the Hungry event hosted by Tampa'smayor. Dr. Al-Arian, as the imam, also led the mosque to become thefirst to join the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality(HOPE), a social justice coalition made up of nineteen churches.Pastor Warren Clark of the First United Church in Tampa recalls oneof his earliest conversations with Dr. Al-Arian, following the Muslimcommunity's participation in a HOPE event. "(Sami) said, `There areissues in this town that are more than just Muslim issues. We arecalled on by the Quran to work for the poor, the outcast, the hungry,the widows, and the orphans.' He led his community to engage in thiswork in many different ways and through many different organizations.Within the Muslim community, that legacy has continued on, even inhis absence."One of Dr. Al-Arian's proudest achievements is establishing theIslamic Academy of Florida (IAF), a full-time school that offeredstudents the highest quality education while instilling them with asense of moral duty to their community and country. He served asprincipal of the school for several years, as it became the lifebloodof the community. Graduates of IAF have gone on to some of the topuniversities in America and most have received scholarships andacceptance to honors programs.Dr. Al-Arian was also heavily involved in human rights work,especially with regard to his homeland of Palestine, in an effort torelieve the suffering of Palestinians at the hands of the Israelioccupation. He was outspoken in opposition to Israeli policies andeager to inform the American public of the plight of Palestinians inorder to effect positive change. The organization he founded, theIslamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), held annual nationalconferences and organized charitable activities to help needy orphansin Palestine.Among his many activities, Dr. Al-Arian actively worked to bridge thedivide between East and West. He promoted interfaith dialogueindividually and institutionally, in an effort to establish peace,tolerance, and understanding between faiths. Another one of hisinitiatives, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), was agroundbreaking think tank at USF that brought together scholars,experts, and leading intellectuals from around the world. Itspublications were highly regarded by experts in the field. Throughthis work, Dr. Al-Arian developed many important and lastingfriendships.Melva Underbakke, an instructor at USF and member of Friends of HumanRights, recalls her first impressions of Dr. Al-Arian:"I met Sami in the early 1990s. He was giving a presentation for theteachers at the English Language Institute (ELI) at USF. Most of themdidn't know anything about Middle Eastern culture. People liked himin the Foreign Languages Department because he was trying to buildbridges between East and West. He had a real reputation for doingthat there."He soon became recognized as a national leader of the American Muslimcommunity, receiving invitations to speak at numerous churches,synagogues, and other institutions, including the U.S. CentralCommand at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.By the mid-1990s, Dr. Al-Arian's activities were centered on thelatest civil rights struggle in American history: the emergingnational effort to end the unjust detention of Arabs and Muslims foryears without trials through the use of secret evidence. Throughtremendous efforts, including coalition-building, grassrootsmobilization, and congressional lobbying, Dr. Al-Arian would come tobe recognized as "one of the country's leading advocates" of the newcivil rights movement, according to Newsweek magazine.Having lived in the U.S. for over two decades, he was steeped in theAmerican civil rights tradition and was a strong believer in fightingfor change through the designated avenues. Furthermore, Dr. Al-Arianworked hard to empower and enfranchise the American Muslim communityon the local and national levels, encouraging Muslims to vote and runfor office.Dr. Al-Arian's arrest on February 20, 2003, at the behest of the BushAdministration, was the height of injustices committed against Dr. Al-Arian in his three decades as a law-abiding resident who loved hiscountry; a country where he lived twice as long as he had anywhereelse; a country that shared his values and beliefs more than anyother; a country where he raised his family to live, learn, work, andcontribute to its betterment.The trial and acquittal of Dr. Al-Arian in 2005 served not only todemonstrate his innocence against the government's unfoundedaccusations, but also as an affirmation of his decades of publicservice. ICP and WISE, the institutions that the government attemptedto destroy in its indictment, were ultimately vindicated. Prosecutorscould not show any evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, witnesses calledby the government, including professors, lawyers, and federal agents,testified to the value of these organizations and their genuinenature. Jurors who sat in the trial for six months drew only thelogical conclusion that ICP and WISE were legitimate, law-abidingorganizations that were highly regarded.The government's decision to continue to punish Dr. Al-Arian evenafter his acquittal demonstrates the politically- motivated nature ofthe actions against him. This effort has been led by those who areopenly opposed to the empowerment of American Muslims in the publicsquare, and have professed deep hostility to the cause of justice forPalestinians.For the past five years, Dr. Al-Arian has witnessed the gravest ofinjustices, some that he spent years of his life fighting against,and others never thought imaginable in a free society. As hecontinues to endure imprisonment with no end in sight, abusivetreatment at the hands of prison officials, and isolation from thosewho love and depend on him, many Americans and people the world overwonder if justice is indeed possible in such dark times when theabuse of government power knows no bounds.Dr. Al-Arian, however, maintains his unshakeable faith that thepeople, on whom the system of justice depends, will ultimately bringan end to the abuses committed in their name. Each day, more peopleadd their voice to the thousands who call on America to live up toits time-tested principles.As Pastor Clark recalls, it is Dr. Al-Arian's strong faith that hasalways guided him through the toughest of times. "I recall attendingan event at the Islamic Community during the height of the mediacampaign against Sami, after 9/11, but before he was arrested. Iasked him how he was doing and I expected him to say things were bad,but he said, `You know Warren, I feel closer to God now than I haveever felt.' It was another window into the deep wellspring he uses toovercome the most terrible circumstances. That really spoke to me."As we approach a crossroads in the contemporary civil rightsstruggle, the case of Dr. Al-Arian takes center stage. Agha Saeed,chair of the American Muslim Taskforce for Civil Rights and Electionsand a colleague of Dr. Al-Arian's for many years, reflects on thecurrent situation. "Today, Dr. Al-Arian, one of the most prominentpolitical prisoners in the United States, symbolizes the struggle forfreedom of Palestine. Tomorrow, let me predict, based on his heroicsacrifices, he will be recognized as a major 21st century civilrights leader in the Unites States." Such designations do not comewithout a heavy price. It is up to all those who stand for justice toensure that the sacrifices made by Dr. Al-Arian are not forgotten.

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