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Al-Arian's story tests our sense of fair play
© St. Petersburg Times Over the weekend, the smoke that shrouds USF professor Sami Al-Arian thickened. Unidentified Israeli intelligence officials said in the Tampa Tribune that he was among the founders of the board that governs the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian denied it. For years here, I've defended Al-Arian's right to speak and act. But I have to admit that these allegations have shaken my faith in him. Speaking up for a political cause he believes in is one thing. Being one of the guiding lights of a terrorist group is entirely another. The Israelis making the charges did not want to be identified. The Tribune story said they wouldn't turn over the evidence to its reporter. Still, these allegations appear to link Al-Arian to the Palestinian Jihad more closely than anything previously. But they won't be enough to indict him. This will not sit well with the scores of readers who berate me when I defend Al-Arian, but it is no crime for him to speak up for unpopular causes, even terrorist ones. Federal law does make it a crime to give a terrorist group material support. That would include raising money, which Al-Arian has also been suspected of. There's just one hitch. Robert O'Neill, chief of the criminal division of the Tampa U.S. Attorney's Office, would not discuss the specifics of Al-Arian's case. But O'Neill said the law has a five-year statute of limitations. The Palestinian Jihad board was organized 10 years ago, too far back in time for prosecution. Al-Arian might be prosecuted under racketeering and conspiracy laws, the same laws that have nailed drug pushers and mobsters. A racketeering case would have to lay out a long-term effort, a pattern of acts, by Al-Arian on behalf of the Palestinian Jihad. But still, at least one criminal act must have occurred within the last five years, when you could assume Al-Arian, if he were involved with the jihad and wise to federal law, would be extra careful about his conduct. And he would be wise to federal law, for he has been under investigation for seven years. The Tribune reported that the Israel authorities are frustrated with prosecutors and agents in Tampa for taking so long with Al-Arian. I share that frustration. The longer it takes for authorities to compile their evidence, the less credible they appear. Either prosecutors are serious about seeking Al-Arian's indictment and conviction, or they are content to smear and ruin him. That is certainly easier. A trial would give us the chance to see the specific evidence against Al-Arian and decide for ourselves. It would give him a chance to respond and defend himself fully. Until then, he lives under immense suspicion, much like his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, but without the prison bars. And many of us couldn't care less. The story of Al-Arian has always run on two tracks. There are the facts, or lack of them, of what he did to help the Palestinian cause. There's the matter of his civil rights -- his right to speak, to act. Now he's even suspended from USF. Writing about Al-Arian had sometimes felt like a dangerous enterprise. What if my estimation of the man was far from the mark? What if all those people who wanted his head were right? I have defended him because his civil rights demand protecting. In fact, the more unpopular he is, the more important defending those rights become. Whatever else it is, his story represents a test of our own sense of fairness, of what we mean when we say we are patriotic. When and if the charges are ever brought, and he goes to trial, those things will be on trial, too. -- You can reach Mary Jo Melone at mjmelone@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3402.
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Times columns today Mary Jo Melone Jan Glidewell From the Times Metro desk |
