Sami Al-Arian asked a judge to allow him to stay in a Hillsborough jail until Sept. 29 so he can interview lawyers.
By Times Staff Writer
Published September 24, 2003
TAMPA - Sami Al-Arian has asked a judge to allow him to remain in a Hillsborough jail long enough to interview lawyers who might sign to represent him on terrorism charges.
In a handwritten motion this week, the former University of South Florida professor asked to stay at the jail until Sept. 29 so he can conduct interviews during the weekend.
Since his arrest in February, Al-Arian has spent most of his time at the Coleman Correctional Facility in Sumter County. He dismissed his court-appointed lawyers several weeks ago and has represented himself since then.
From time to time, authorities bring him to Tampa to review evidence in preparation for his trial, scheduled for January 2005. He wants to remain at the Orient Road Jail through the weekend, since the jail allows meetings with lawyers throughout the day. At Coleman, he said, authorities end the meetings at 3 p.m.
Unless the judge grants his motion, Al-Arian said, he will be forced to conduct the interviews at the Orient Road Jail on Thursday and Friday, which will cut into the time he needs to continue reviewing the case's huge amount of evidence.
The lawyers are from out of town and cannot stay more than two days, he wrote in his motion.
Federal agents arrested Al-Arian and three other men in February on charges that they supported, promoted and raised money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The arrests were the culmination of an eight-year investigation that involved the surreptitious taping of thousands of hours of phone conversations.
A significant portion of the indictment stressed Al-Arian's efforts to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the mid 1990s, during a period of financial trouble for the group.
