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US 'Terror' Evidence No Longer Credible: Experts
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Arian's lawyers described the trial as a "political prosecution."
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CAIRO,
December 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The acquittal of a US
naturalized Palestinian professor by a federal jury of terror charges
has questioned the credibility of US "secret intelligence"
and restored confidence in the US judiciary, analysts and US Muslim
activists said on Wednesday, December 7.
Sami
Al-Arian, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian, was found not guilty Tuesday,
December 6, on eight criminal counts related to "terrorist"
support, perjury and immigration violations.
Juliette
Kayyem, a terrorism legal analyst at Harvard University's Kennedy
School of Government, said the outcome shows that US juries can
seriously consider both government accusations of terrorism and any
evidence.
"This
case has been sort of a tortured case for the United States,"
Kayyem, a Justice Department official from 1995 to 1999, told the Washington
Post.
A
male juror said he perceived Arian's acquittal not as a First
Amendment issue but as a failure of the government to prove its case.
"I
didn't see the evidence," said the man, who declined to give his
name.
David
Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University, told the New York
Times the verdict amounted to a rejection of the government's
"sweeping guilt by association theory."
Prosecutors,
who had been building a case against Arian for 10 years, relied on
some 20,000 hours of taped conversations culled from wiretaps on Arian
and his associates.
Officials
said he had helped finance and direct "terrorist" attacks in
Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while using his faculty
position teaching computer engineering at the University of South
Florida as a cover for his "terrorist" activities.
But
ultimately, the jury found him not guilty of the charge of conspiring
to kill people overseas, and it deadlocked on three of the other most
serious terrorism charges.
Justice
Department officials said they were considering whether to re-try
Arian on the counts on which the jury did not reach verdicts.
Arian
is to remain in jail on an immigration matter, but his lawyer said he
would probably file a motion next week asking to have him released on
bond.
Political
Prosecution
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"This case has been sort of a tortured case for the United States," Kayyem said.
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"This
was a political prosecution from the start, and I think the jury
realized that," Linda Moreno, one of Arian's defence lawyers,
told the Times.
"They
looked over at Sami al-Arian; they saw a man who had taken unpopular
positions on issues thousands of miles away, but they realized he
wasn't a terrorist. The truth is a powerful thing," he added,
referring to Arian's staunch support of the Palestinian cause and
harsh criticism for the Israeli practices.
His
attorney William Moffitt rested his defence without presenting
evidence. In court, he argued that the government sought to muzzle his
client's avowed antipathy to Israel.
"This
case concerns Dr. al-Arian's right to speak, our right to hear what he
has to say and the attempt of the powerful to silence him," he
said during the case.
Arian's
family members and other three co-defendants -- Sameeh T. Hammoudeh,
Ghassan Ballut and Hatim Fariz, who were also acquitted -- wept in
court on Tuesday as the verdicts were read.
"Fair
Trial"
As
for the local Muslim community, Muslims in Florida celebrated the
verdict and gathered Tuesday night at the local mosque Arian helped
found.
Arian
"loves America, and he believes in the system, and thank God the
system did not fail him," his wife, Nahla, said outside the
federal courthouse as throngs of family members, supporters and
lawyers celebrated the justice done to him.
Outside
the courtroom, Ahmad Bedier, regional director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), praised the verdict.
"It
will not only restore faith in the justice system by American Muslims
but also by Muslims all over the world who doubted justice in
America," Bedier told the Post.
"This
sends a very positive message that Muslims can receive a fair trial in
America.
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