http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS/703250408/
1004
Al-Arian Contempt Ruling Upheld
By LARRY O'DELL
The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court on Friday affirmed a civil contempt
ruling against a former university professor, just hours after the
Palestinian ended a two-month hunger strike to protest his extended
imprisonment.
Sami al-Arian, who taught computer science at the University of South
Florida but is now in a North Carolina federal prison, claimed that a plea
agreement in Florida exempts him from cooperation with the Alexandria, Va.,
grand jury that is investigating Islamic charities in northern Virginia. A
three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously
rejected that argument.
Al-Arian's lawyer, Peter Erlinder, did not immediately return phone messages
seeking comment.
Nahla al-Arian said she was able to convince her husband early Friday to end
his water-only fast that began Jan. 22. She said he had lost about 53 pounds
- one-quarter of his body weight - and was too weak to walk.
"We're very happy and relieved that he's decided to suspend his hunger
strike," she said, adding that family members and supporters had worried
about permanent damage. "Hopefully he will not need to resume it."
Prosecutors accused al-Arian of being a leader of a terrorist group called
Palestinian Islamic Jihad. After a six-month trial ended in an acquittal on
some counts and a hung jury on others, al-Arian struck a plea bargain last
April and admitted to conspiring to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad,
specifically by helping a family member with links to the group obtain
immigration benefits and by lying to a reporter about another person's ties
to the group.
Al-Arian was sentenced to nearly five years in prison, minus time he had
already served. A judge later extended al-Arian's sentence and put him under
review for futher extensions after he refused to testify before the northern
Virginia grand jury.
Al-Arian began his hunger strike to protest the subpoena and the contempt
citation. He is being held at a medical prison in Butner, N.C.
The federal appeals court said Friday that it found no merit in al-Arian's
claim that he does not have to testify because "a cooperation clause was
discussed during the plea negotiations, but was not agreed to and not
included in the written plea agreement."
The plea agreement "contains no language which would bar the government from
compelling appellant's testimony before a grand jury," the appeals court
said.
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