Al-Arian, doctor had contact

Hernando physician Ayman Osman was on the board of a Muslim school founded by Sami Al-Arian, who is accused of leading a terrorist organization.

By ROBERT KING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 25, 2003

SPRING HILL -- Dr. Ayman Osman has described his relationship with Sami Al-Arian, accused last week of being the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as only casual -- not really friends.

Osman

But Osman is one of 10 people who serve on the board of directors for the Islamic Academy of Florida, a school for Muslim children in Tampa that was founded by Al-Arian. Osman has raised cash for the school. He has two children who go there.

Osman and Al-Arian saw each other at least once a month for school business that included meetings outside of the board room, said Samar Shakfeh of Spring Hill, thepresident of the Islamic Academy's PTA as well as a member of the board.

"They were friends," said Shakfeh, whose husband, Samir Shakfeh, is a doctor in Hernando County too. "How close I don't know."

A woman who once answered Osman's phones said Al-Arian used to call there every day. Another former worker said that Osman gave free medical treatment to Fedaa Al-Najjar, who is married to Al-Arian's brother-in-law.

Then there was Osman's office manager -- Hatem Fariz.

Fariz, a 30-year-old resident of Spring Hill, was named in a federal indictment last week as a key player in Al-Arian's efforts to raise money for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group the government says is responsible for the murder of more than 100 people in Israel and the occupied territories.

In one passage, the indictment said Fariz and Al-Arian were overheard talking on the phone last September about collecting donations from Fariz's employer. At the time, Fariz worked for Osman, though the indictment does not mention Osman by name.

The connection was tight enough that FBI agents spent a full day raiding Osman's two Hernando County offices. The FBI would not discuss whether Osman is a suspect. But some residents in Spring Hill said the FBI has asked them questions about Osman.

Osman, who was not available for comment Monday, said last week that he is not a suspect in the case and has only encouraged his staff to cooperate with authorities. If Fariz was involved in terrorist fundraising, Osman said, it must have occurred before Osman hired him last year. As a doctor, Osman said, he couldn't support any cause that promotes "senseless acts of evil."

Yet Osman has given more than $30,000 to the Global Relief Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been under investigation for terrorist connections. Other local Muslims, including the Shakfehs, said they have given money to Global Relief. They said giving opportunities were presented to them -- even at the mosque in Hernando County -- as an opportunity to help the poor.

Osman's former employees have said they never saw fundraising activities of any kind in their offices. But there were other things they couldn't explain.

Osman and Fariz had a habit of stockpiling free drug samples left by pharmaceutical company representatives and, then, the drugs would disappear overnight. Even the pens and pads of papers given to staffers by the drug representatives were collected by Osman and Fariz, one staffer said, so they could be given to charities.

Office workers said both men zealously guarded mail deliveries and faxes and that no one else was allowed to look at them or handle them.

Those workers asked not to be identified by the Times for fear of reprisals.

Linda Hoins, a former billing clerk for Osman, said she was allowed to mail out bills, but never to take in the cash. Osman took it all, she said.

Workers said such procedures were outside the norm of their experiences at other offices.

Fariz came to Spring Hill last year from Chicago, where he was president of the Chicago Islamic Center and the listed agent for a charity known as the American Muslim Care Network.

Osman said he hired Fariz after he answered a help wanted ad.

Both Osman and Fariz both sent their school-age children to Al-Arian's Islamic Academy. The children rode the same academy bus with the Shakfeh children, the Shakfehs said.

Al-Arian founded the academy 11 years ago. It has grown from 23 students -- three of them Al-Arian's -- to more than 250. The school, with children from kindergarten to grade 12, boasts a teaching staff of about 35. It sits on 14 acres in an unincorporated swath near Temple Terrace in Hillsborough County.

Al-Arian taught classes several days a week. He has said in the past that he took no salary from the school. Most academy students go on to graduate from college, according to the school.

Samar Shakfeh said she was not concerned that the negative attention drawn to the academy might cost it its non-profit status or its private financial support. She is convinced that the school "will come out clear."

"I have no doubt in my mind the school is running a perfectly legal operation," said Mrs. Shakfeh. "I see the budget and there is not a penny that goes outside the school, much less outside the country."

Shakfeh said she and her husband have given the academy $10,000 over the past two years in donations beyond what they spent on tuition.

-- Robert King covers Spring Hill and can be reached at 848-1432. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com . Times staff writer Graham Brink contributed to this report.

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