Saturday, January 26, 2008
... The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government did not violate Al-Arian's "plea agreement by issuing a subpoena commanding Al-Arian to testify before a grand jury" in Virginia probing Muslim charities there. In April 2006, after a jury acquitted him on some counts and hung on others, Al-Arian pled guilty to one count of conspiracy "to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad...in violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง371." Then, "In May 2006, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued to Al-Arian a grand jury subpoena ad testificandum. The subpoena was served on Al-Arian in early October 2006, and he filed a motion to quash the subpoena in the Virginia district court. Al-Arian argued that his plea agreement in the Florida district court prevented the government from forcing him to testify before the grand jury in Virginia." Al-Arian refused to testify and was held in contempt; the contempt order was dropped in December 2007. The Virginia investigation reportedly involves a complex network of Islamic charities that allegedly funded terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). For example, in one letter entered into evidence in Al-Arian's trial, the Virginia-based International Institute for Islamic Thought is identified by PIJ leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah as the "largest contributor" to Al-Arian's World and Islamic Studies Enterprise (WISE), which authorities alleged was a PIJ front group...
More at the NEFA link. Here's a PDF of the decision.
Al-Arian has been starving himself for attention. This is a victory for PIJ's victims.
Update: AP: Court denies Fla. ex-professor's appeal
ATLANTA - A former Florida college professor who pleaded guilty to aiding a Palestinian terrorist group was not immune from a subpoena forcing him to testify in an unrelated probe of Muslim charities, an appeals court ruled Friday.
Sami Al-Arian, 50, had argued the terms of the plea agreement exempted him from testifying before a grand jury in an investigation of Islamic charities in Virginia.
A federal judge disagreed and found Al-Arian guilty of contempt when he refused to testify...
