http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43434
Because of his refusal to testify, Al-Arian is now set for an Aug. 13 trial for criminal contempt. However his lawyer, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, says he has been barred from meeting with his client and is seeking to have the trial delayed and Al-Arian released.
In a motion filed Aug. 1, Turley -- who is also seeking to take the case to the Supreme Court -- argues that Al-Arian is being illegally detained by authorities in contravention of a Jul. 10 court decision, finding that he posed no flight risk or threat to his community and should be granted bail. "Put simply, Dr. Al-Arian is being held unconstitutionally," Turley states in the motion.
Al-Arian's supporters also maintain that he is a victim of a federal prosecutor -- Kromberg. During a 2005 trial, Kromberg told jurors that the defendant in the case -- Ali Al-Timimi, a devout Muslim -- could not be trusted, as his religion required him to lie to non-believers.
And according to Al-Arian's attorneys, Kromberg told them in a 2006 meeting that he would not grant Al-Arian's request that he not be forced to testify before a grand jury during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan.
"If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury; all they can't do is eat before sunset," Kromberg is quoted as telling Al- Arian's legal counsel. "I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian's grand jury appearance to assist in what is becoming the Islamisation of America."
Critics say Kromberg's comments -- and his unabashed support for the state of Israel -- show that his targeting of Al-Arian is based on politics, not terrorism.
"He's been singled out because he's been an effective, courageous man," said Mike Gravel, a former U.S. Senator from Alaska, at the event with Al-Arian's family. Like other supporters, Gravel believes Al-Arian is the victim of a politicised Justice Department eager to silence a controversial and outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In an interview with IPS, Gravel said he was "absolutely outraged over the injustice" of the government's treatment of Al-Arian. He also singled out as "gutless" members of Congress -- such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont -- who have refused to take any action on Al-Arian's behalf.
Since Democrats took over control of Congress, Leahy's committee has held hearings on everything from polygamy to the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, but none regarding Al-Arian.
An aide to Leahy told IPS that his office continues to receive calls from Al- Arian's supporters, but offered no comment on what -- if any -- action Leahy would take regarding the case.
"This all stems from AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee]," Gravel told IPS. Lawmakers are afraid of offending the powerful lobbying group -- which supports a hard-line position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with Israel's right-wing Likud Party -- and thus are unwilling to take up Al-Arian's case, he said. "This guy is just speaking out very effectively for the Palestinian cause, that's what is the root of this, and [the government is] trying to stifle that."
Gravel's comments on the case are echoed by Scott Horton, a former chair of the of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on International Law and a writer for Harper's Magazine.
"I believe that the defence is on firm ground saying that this is a case of political persecution," Horton stated in an interview with IPS. "In fact, I am hard pressed to find another case just like it."
Horton believes Al-Arian has been targeted not because he poses any sort of violent threat, but because he has been a high-profile and articulate critic of Israeli policies. And he believes the case shows that -- especially since 9/11 and the advent of the "war on terror" -- not even an acquittal is enough to exonerate someone accused of terrorism in the U.S.
"The prosecution's conduct is typical of the Bush AdministrationŠ in that it will not accept defeat, whether from a jury or a judge," stated Horton. "When they fail to get the relief they seek, they simply connive another way to secure it."
At the Washington event, Al-Arian's son Abdullah said that, at this point, the best his family could hope for is that the government ultimately decides to deport his father, as they promised to do in the 2006 plea agreement. "It's a sad day when you have to leave America to be free, but that's the America we live in -- for some people at least."
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