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| Professor Protests Arrest with Hunger Strike |
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| 02/25/03 at 21:54:42 |
| Professor Protests Arrest with Hunger Strike http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030225/ts_nm/crime_professor_dc_4 TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida university professor arrested last week as an alleged terrorist leader of an Islamist group said on Tuesday he was being "crucified" by U.S. authorities and vowed to continue a protest hunger strike. Sami Al-Arian, who had been under investigation for years, and three other men were arrested by federal agents last Thursday. They were charged with raising money to finance suicide bombings and other attacks by the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Israel and the occupied territories that killed more than 100 people including two Americans. Al-Arian, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Hatem Fariz were arrested in Tampa and Ghassan Ballut was arrested in Chicago. Four other alleged members of the group were named in the indictment but all live outside the United States and none are in custody. "I'm crucified today because of who I am, a stateless Palestinian," Al-Arian, 45, said in a statement read by his daughter Leena, 17, at a small rally by his supporters in front of the U.S. courthouse in Tampa. He started his hunger strike when he was arrested on Thursday. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft last week called Al-Arian the leader of Islamic Jihad in the United States. A computer engineering professor at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian says he supports Palestinian statehood but opposes terrorism and his lawyer last week denied all the charges against him. The hearing to determine whether Al-Arian, Hammoudeh, and Fariz would be freed on bond was put off until March 24 after their attorneys asked for more time to prepare. Al-Arian's wife Nahla told reporters he was well despite the hunger strike he began when he was arrested. "He's good, he's very strong. I want him back with me," she said of her husband, who has lived in the United States since 1975 and who is a legal U.S. resident. About two dozen supporters marched in front of the courthouse, many carrying signs that read: "Free Sami Al-Arian" and "Justice for Al-Arian." Hammoudeh, 42, taught Arabic at the University of South Florida while Fariz, 30, was the office manager for a doctor in Spring Hill, Florida near Tampa. Also arrested last week in the Chicago area was Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 41, a small business owner. A magistrate in Chicago ordered that he be held without bail and sent to Florida to face the charges. The 50-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Tampa includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to the group, conspiracy to violate emergency economic sanctions, extortion, perjury, obstructing justice and immigration fraud. |
| 02/25/03 at 21:56:34 |
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