Al-Arian to Be Tried Yet Again

The cruel circus surrounding the trials of Dr. Sami Al-Arian continues. We must declare our admiration for Judge Leonie Brinkema who has maintained her judicial integrity in the challenging balancing act of maintaining the rights of the accused even as the prosecution employs double dealing with a deck already stacked against defenders of the Palestinian resistance, such as Dr. Al-Arian.

After the federal prosecutors seduced Dr. Al-Arian into pleading guilty on a minor immigration charge in order to have severe fabrications of terrorist activity against him dropped, Virginia prosecutor Gordon Kromberg declared that he is not bound by an agreement made in Florida that Dr. Al-Arian would not have to cooperate with government and instead be deported, and sought to coerce him to testify before a grand jury. The Supreme Court refused to hear the question of whether the feds in Virgina are bound by the Florida agreement and the judge has decided to let the jury decide in a trial to be held in March.

In the meantime the press continues with its persecution campaign. Despite the judge’s explicit declaration that this is not a terrorism case, the Washington Post chose to headline its article about the upcoming trial with “Contempt Charges Will Stand In Terrorism-Related Case.” (Of course, this is the same newspaper that elected not to report the story that thousands of demonstrators marched in front of its own offices to protest its blackout on the many DC demonstrations against the Israeli devastation of Gaza, so who dares pretend to be surprised?)

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org


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