Articles
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 2008, page 52
Human Rights
Activists Support Dr. Sami Al-Arian
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ACTIVISTS gathered on the steps of the Downtown Los Angeles Federal Building Aug. 13 to protest the government’s ongoing persecution of computer engineering professor Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Only days before, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, VA postponed Al-Arian’s trial on criminal contempt until the Supreme Court addresses his appeal. On Sept. 3, Dr. Al-Arian finally was released on bail, after spending more than five years in prison—this despite the fact that a jury of his peers failed to convict him of a single charge brought by the government.
The former professor of computer engineering at South Florida University originally was targeted for his speeches calling for Palestinian self-determination and has gone through debilitating hunger strikes in prison.
Omar Husseini of the University of Southern California’s Students for Justice for Palestine said Dr. Al-Arian’s plight is an issue for all people. “Bush talks about the lack of human rights in China while he persecutes U.S. citizens who object to his foreign policy,” he said.
“Students have a duty to speak out. Next year I will be teaching at Belmont High School and I will mentor students on how to speak with a dissident voice.”
Stated Mazen al-Moukdad: “Bush is going after Palestinians all over the world. Palestinians living in Iraq have been forced to live in refugee camps in a desert no- man’s-land. Dr. Al-Arian has been imprisoned for speaking the truth.”
—Pat McDonnell Twair
