Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Al-Arian's talks with reporter examined

Prosecutors say Al-Arian knew more about the Palestinian Islamic Jihad than he let on during 1995.

By MEG LAUGHLIN
Published August 12, 2005

TAMPA - The news from the Associated Press late on the night of Oct. 30, 1995, was shocking: Ramadan Shallah, who had been a scholar at an Islamic think tank in Tampa associated with the University of South Florida, was the new leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Shallah had been an instructor at USF as well, and now he was head of an organization that was claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks in Israel and the occupied territories.

St. Petersburg Times reporter Jim Harper called University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian at home after midnight to ask him about the news. Shallah had worked at World and Islam Studies Enterprise, the think tank founded by Al-Arian.

Four months before, Shallah had left WISE, amid a flurry of allegations in the Tampa Tribune about WISE having connections to the PIJ. Harper had interviewed Al-Arian about this previously, and he was skeptical of the accusations.

"But that night when I called Sami, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that there really was something to what the stories said," said Harper, now a writer in Tampa.

On Thursday, Harper's phone conversations with Al-Arian became evidence in Al-Arian's federal trial. He, along with three other defendants, is charged with conspiring to provide material aid to PIJ terrorists.

In the 10-year-old phone conversation, Al-Arian initially told Harper that "it can't be the same person" who had taken over the PIJ leadership.

And he said the man who worked with him in Tampa didn't go by the name "Shallah."

"Ramadan is in Sudan. ... He has been out of the country for ... almost four months ... I mean I know Ramadan Abdullah, that's the same name ... but I've never heard the name Shallah."

But on Thursday, prosecutors showed jurors a U.S. work visa application from September 1993 for Ramadan Abdullah Shallah with Al-Arian's signature on it.

Al-Arian told Harper on that night more than 10 years ago that "Ramadan Abdullah" was "highly recommended ... an excellent researcher, excellent economist." Al-Arian ended the conversation by telling Harper that the news "is going to be sensational in this area."

The night of Oct. 31, 1995, Harper called Al-Arian again. This conversation was also played in the courtroom.

Al-Arian told Harper that he had seen a photo in the paper and it was, indeed, his colleague from WISE who had taken over the helm of the PIJ, in Damascus, Syria.

Harper told him that those who believed the accusations against WISE saw the news "as a vindication of their suspicions."

Responded Al-Arian: "Well, I can't really comment on ... any ties. ... I don't think we should make any kind of assumptions. ... Ah, he didn't do anything really for me to feel that he was party to anything happening."

The prosecution's case against Al-Arian indicates that he knew quite a bit more about Shallah than he let on during that interview.

Over the past few weeks, prosecutors have been reading FBI wiretaps of Al-Arian's conversations with PIJ leaders in late 1994. Repeatedly, Al-Arian expressed concern about PIJ money being cut off, including a salary for Shallah, who was director of WISE.

In that 1995 phone conversation about Shallah, Al-Arian emphasized to Harper that he was "an independent. ... I don't belong to any political group."

In their 2003 indictment against Al-Arian, prosecutors said they entered these phone conversations with Harper into evidence because they show that Al-Arian "did ... misrepresent facts to representatives of the media to ... further the conspiracy" with a coverup. Faxes and phone conversations, secretly taped by FBI agents in late 1994 and early 1995, indicated he was on the PIJ board of directors along with Shallah during that time.

In 1994 and 1995, the PIJ claimed responsibility for five terrorist acts which killed 22 people. Most of the dead were Israeli soldiers, but several were civilians - one, an American student studying in Israel.

In late 1994, however, according to the wiretaps, Al-Arian tried to persuade PIJ leaders to join with Hamas to become a voice in the Palestinian Authority, which was negotiating with the Israelis.

A month before Shallah left WISE in June 1995, militant PIJ members issued a communique condemning the idea of a coalition, saying this strategy could result in an end to armed operations and require them to turn in their weapons.

But none of Al-Arian's secretly recorded conversations were known when Harper was talking to Al-Arian on Oct. 31, 1995.

The issue then was whether Shallah had been connected to the PIJ when he was director of WISE, raising questions about Al-Arian and other staff members.

At the conclusion of his conversation with Harper, Al-Arian assured the journalist that those at WISE would have never put themselves "in a situation like this ... if this guy is ... somewhere in the higher up of the organization.

"I mean we wouldn't be fool enough to put him ... as director of anything," Al-Arian said.

Staff writer Meg Laughlin can be reached at 813 226-3365 or mlaughlin@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 12, 2005, 00:46:18]