Fw: [IAC] Statement on Dr. Sami Al-Arian's arrest

["Stefano e Fabio" <ulliana@qnet.it>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Action Center" <ActionCenter.actgen@action-mail.org>
To: <ActionCenter.actgen@action-mail.org>
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 5:26 AM
Subject: [IAC] Statement on Dr. Sami Al-Arian's arrest


> 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.
>
> ---------------------------------------
>
> Email circulated by:
> A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
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