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He finds he can't get out of prison unless he finds a country to take him, but he can't find one while still in prison.
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 13, 2002
COLEMAN -- Family members of Mazen Al-Najjar, once linked to terrorism by the federal government and now facing deportation for overstaying his student visa, say they can't find a country to take him as long as he's in prison.
But immigration officials gave them little hope during a case review Wednesday that he will be released until they find a taker.
"That's the irony," said Sami Al-Arian, the controversial University of South Florida professor who is Al-Najjar's brother-in-law. "You would think it's the other way around, that they would find him a country.
Al-Arian made his remarks outside the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County, about 60 miles north of Tampa, where his brother-in-law has been held since November. Wednesday's review was the latest pitch for freedom by the Palestinian-born Al-Najjar, who has spent the better part of five years behind bars while the government attempts to make a case against him.
Al-Arian said the family has contacted the embassies of eight countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, with little success. Some have rejected the request outright, while others have not responded.
He identified the countries as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Guyana, Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain, and had documentation of the contacts.
The nearly five-hour review inside the prison was closed to the press and relatives. But one of Al-Najjar's lawyers said afterward that an officer with the Immigration and Naturalization Service had asked Al-Najjar repeatedly what he is doing to find a host country. Al-Najjar said he was doing very little, since prisoner phone privileges are limited and calls are cut off after 15 minutes, the lawyer said.
The attorney, Joe Hohenstein of Philadelphia, said the immigration officer spent nearly four hours reviewing issues already answered within his client's case files. When he finally got to the pertinent question -- what is Al-Najjar doing to find a new home? -- he ended the session after Al-Najjar answered, calling him unresponsive, Hohenstein said.
"It's my impression that they are conducting the review in order to be able to make representations that they are doing the custody review," Hohenstein said. "I would be surprised if it results in the INS allowing his release."
Al-Arian called the session "a show."
The INS referred questions to the U.S. Justice Department, where a spokesman did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Al-Najjar came to the United States in 1981 from Gaza but overstayed a student visa. A onetime University of South Florida teacher, he was jailed in 1997 in Bradenton on classified evidence that the government argues links him to the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
He was released 31/2 years later in December 2000, after a Miami federal judge ruled his constitutional rights were violated by the government's refusal to divulge the evidence so that he could mount a defense. Last November, a federal appeals court upheld a deportation order for overstaying the visa and ordered him back into custody.
Al-Arian, Al-Najjar's brother-in-law, is in his own highly publicized fight. He was suspended as a USF professor after Sept. 11 following an interview on the nationally televised Fox news show The O'Reilly Factor. On the show, Al-Arian was grilled about his ties to Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, whom Al-Arian had brought to USF in 1990 and who later surfaced as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Al-Arian is trying to be reinstated. Neither he nor his brother-in-law has been charged with a crime.
Al-Najjar's attorneys contend that his case falls under a 1995 law that allows the government to detain a potential deportee for up to 180 days. If the government can't find a country willing to take him, he must be released, they say.
The time elapsed May 14 and the attorneys filed a petition in federal court arguing that his continued detention violates immigration laws and the U.S. Constitution. They say his family has actively tried to find a new home country.
One problem is that because Al-Najjar is a Palestinian from Gaza, he is in essence stateless. As such, he must first seek transportation papers through the Egyptian government, Hohenstein said. And he said the family has exhausted its efforts to work through the Egyptian embassy and is now trying to work with officials in that country.
Al-Najjar can't call Egypt from prison, and a meaningful conversation on the issue takes longer than 15 minutes, Hohenstein said.
"No country has opened up a serious discussion with us without an indication that an Egyptian travel document has been issued," Hohenstein said.
Al-Najjar's family said they are ready to leave. His wife, Fedaa, and three daughters, all of whom are U.S. citizens, were outside the Coleman prison Wednesday.
"It's an injustice and completely unfair," said Fedaa Al-Najjar. "I think enough is enough. We don't want to live in this horrible situation."
Said Yara Al-Najjar, who is 13 and the couple's oldest daughter: "It makes me feel bad about what my country is doing."