Al-Arian Timeline

1975
Sami Al-Arian, born in Kuwait and educated in Egypt, becomes permanent U.S. resident.

Dec. 1981
Al-Arian's brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, enters United States from Gaza on a student visa and studies for his master's degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.

1986
Al-Arian becomes an assistant professor at the University of South Florida after earning an engineering doctorate in North Carolina. In June, Al-Najjar also
moves to Tampa to earn a doctorate in engineering at USF.

Oct. 1988
Sami Al-Arian starts the Islamic Committee for Palestine, or ICP, to support Palestinian causes.

1990
Academic Khalil Shikaki becomes first director of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE, a think tank also founded by Al-Arian.

1991
Ramadan Abdullah Shallah joines WISE as a researcher and expert on Middle East economics.

Summer 1994
A sample issue of WISE's journal, Political Readings.

May 1995
Relying heavily on the documentary Jihad in America, the Tampa Tribune publishes two-part story linking WISE, ICP, Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar to fundraising and politicking for terrorist groups.

June 1995
USF administrators meet with concerned citizens and professors about the allegations of terrorist ties and suspend the college's agreement to work with
WISE on conferences.

Oct. 1995
Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, recently a USF teacher and the administrator of WISE, is named new leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus, Syria.

April 1996
USF holds exams a week early after receiving a bomb threat, and a 19-year-old student, Damian Hospital, later gets five years' probation and court-ordered counseling for the crime.

May 1997
Mazen Al-Najjar is arrested and jailed after he and his wife are ordered deported for overstaying visas. To keep him detained, the government introduces secret evidence that he is a threat. The legal fight will continue for the next five years.

Sept. 26, 2001
Al-Arian appears on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and is questioned about his alleged ties to terrorism. The next day, USF receives angry phone calls and e-mails, and shuts down an engineering building for part of the day.

Sept. 28, 2001
USF puts Al-Arian on paid leave for security reasons.

Dec. 18, 2001
USF lawyer determines that Al-Arian can be fired for disrupting the university.

Dec. 19, 2001
USF Board of Trustees votes 12-1 to recommend that Al-Arian be fired. USF president Judy Genshaft announces her intention to fire him but later says she will wait to make a final decision.

Jan. 9, 2002
USF Faculty Senate votes not to support the trustees' decision to fire Al-Arian.

Feb. 21, 2002
Federal prosecutors announce they are conducting an ongoing investigation ""into the conduct and activities'' of Al-Arian.

June 8, 2002
The American Association of University Professors threatens to censure USF if the school fires Al-Arian.

Aug. 21, 2002
Genshaft announces the school will ask a judge whether he can be fired.

Aug. 22, 2002
Mazen Al-Najjar is placed on a chartered plane in the custody of U.S. officials to be flown to Bahrain. The Persian Gulf country refuses to allow the plane to land. After a stop in Ireland and Italy, Al-Najjar is later taken to Lebanon.

Dec. 16, 2002
U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew throws out the USF lawsuit, writing that the case "would not be a wise and practical use of judicial resources.'' She said that arbitration between Al-Arian and USF should take place under the school's collective bargaining agreement.

Jan. 15, 2003
USF decides not to appeal Bucklew's ruling.

Jan. 24, 2003
Al-Arian has a grievance meeting with USF officials.

Feb. 5, 2003
Al-Najjar is reunited with his wife, Fedaa, and their three daughters in an unnamed "U.S. friendly Arab country.''

Feb. 20, 2003
Al-Arian is arrested at his home in Temple Terrace and accused of being the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.