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Al-Arian's trial enters 2nd week

Attorneys for other defendants have tried to minimize their clients' links to the professor.

By Times Staff
Published June 13, 2005

TAMPA - The trial of former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants began last week before a packed courtroom, with demonstrators in the street and international news coverage.

Federal prosecutors will continue presenting the government's case this week. It portrays Al-Arian as the head of a powerful cell of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad that operated out of Tampa.

In their opening statement, prosecutors told jurors evidence would show that Al-Arian and his three other defendants led double lives while financially backing suicide bombers in Israel.

Al-Arian's lawyer, William Moffitt, countered that the case was guilt-by-association. He said his client was an advocate for Palestinian rights who was exercising freedom of speech, and that his charitable work was legitimate.

On Tuesday, attorneys for the other three defendants minimized their clients' ties to Al-Arian, and emphasized their community ties and moderate, nonviolent political views.

The first prosecution witness was an immigration official who explained the government forms that immigrants must fill out. Prosecutors hope to show Al-Arian and the others hid ties to PIJ when coming into the United States.

An FBI agent spent much of the week testifying about evidence seized in raids on Al-Arian's home and offices.

And on Thursday, the former imam of a Sarasota mosque, who worked with the FBI on another terrorism case, testified that Al-Arian once tried to recruit him to join a violent faction of PIJ.

The trial is set to resume today at 9 a.m. on the 13th floor of the Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse, 801 N Florida Ave., in Tampa.

[Last modified June 13, 2005, 01:42:15]