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Sami Al-Arian

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Sami Amin Al-Arian (born January 14, 1958) is a Federal prisoner of Palestinian parentage, and a former tenured computer-engineering professor at the University of South Florida. After publicity about his non-academic activities, and then criminal charges that allege he has headed the North American operations of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and dealt with multiple terrorist groups, he was fired from that position.

Al-Arian was born in Kuwait, but has lived in the United States since 1975. He holds a Ph.D. degree.

The AAUP and faculty union have opposed actions of the university administration in his case. Also, actions in his case were raised in 2004 primary- and general-election campaigns involving (USF's by-then-former president) Betty Castor.

Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Al-Arian's connections to Islamic terror groups in the early 1990s, establishing its first wiretaps on Al-Arian in 1993. In 1995, the FBI began requesting information on Al-Arian and two other professors from USF campus police, while refraining from giving the local authorities any details on the investigation. In 1996, USF officials received more information on the investigation, leading university president Betty Castor to suspend Al-Arian. Recordings and other information gathered for intelligence purposes were not shared with the criminal staff of the FBI in the late 1990s, and the university's internal report by Tampa lawyer William Reece Smith did not suggest grounds for USF to dismiss him.

Following the first investigation, Al-Arian became politically active in the United States. He campaigned heavily for George W. Bush during the 2000 election, and was photographed with Bush that year in Plant City, Florida. The following year, Al-Arian's son, Abdullah, became a congressional intern, but was kicked out of a White House meeting because of suspected terrorist connections, sparking a walkout by twenty other Muslims in attendance. However, Bush soon apologized to the Al-Arian family for the incident, and by June 20, 2001, Sami Al-Arian's record was clean enough to allow him entry to the Eisenhower Office Building for a briefing, led by Karl Rove, with 160 other Muslim leaders.

Al-Arian appeared on the popular polemical television show The O'Reilly Factor on September 26, shortly after the September 11th attacks. On the program, host Bill O'Reilly resurrected 15 year old charges that accused Al-Arian of using a now-defunct university affiliated Islamic think tank that he headed as a front for Palestinian terrorist organizations. Al-Arian denied all links to terrorists; O'Reilly made it clear that he believed Al-Arian has terrorist connections.

Following the program's airing, USF received several death threats for Al-Arian. University president Judy Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid leave and barred him from the campus on September 27, ostensibly for his own safety and the safety of others at the university.

On December 19, 2001, Genshaft initiated proceedings to revoke Al-Arian's tenure and terminate his employment at the university. Genshaft refused to speak publicly about the Al-Arian case; a spokesman indicated that Genshaft was attempting to fire Al-Arian for supporting terrorism and damaging the university's reputation.

The University filed a lawsuit seeking a pre-emptive judgement that firing Al-Arian would not violate his First Amendment rights in August of 2002. The suit was summarily dismissed on December 15, 2002, with the judge indicating that such a ruling is not within the scope of the court's function.


Arrest

On February 20, 2003, the FBI arrested Al-Arian after indicting him and seven others on 50 terrorism-related charges. United States Attorney General John Ashcroft alleged at a press conference that Al-Arian was the North American head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the secretary of the PIJ's international organization.

On February 26, Genshaft announced that Al-Arian had been fired on the basis that his nonacademic activities created a conflict of interest with USF. Allegations from his indictment were also cited. His trial is set for January 2005. Al-Arian's lawyers have stated that the delay between arrest and trial constitutes a violation of Al-Arian's right under the United States Constitution to a speedy trial. In response, Judge James Moody cited what he believed to be the complexity and uniqueness of the case as reasons for setting the trial in 2005.

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