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Al-Arian trial tells two stories

Was money funneled through a Palestinian Islamic Jihad charity used for good or for terrorist activities?

By MEG LAUGHLIN
Published August 23, 2005

TAMPA - Rarely in a federal trial do prosecutors and the defense embrace the same information. But that's what's happening in the trial of Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants.

At issue Monday: The meaning of defendants' 2002 and 2003 phone conversations about raising thousands of dollars in Tampa for blind women, orphans and needy families in Israel's occupied territories.

Prosecutors point out that a portion of the money was distributed through the Elehssan Society, which was part of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They say this shows a link between the defendants and PIJ terrorist activities.

But defense attorneys see it differently. On Monday, they rarely objected to the testimony of FBI agent Kerry Myers about the link between fundraising, Elehssan and the PIJ. They believe the evidence shows the PIJ had a busy charitable arm, which indicates the defendants weren't involved with PIJ violence but with PIJ charity.

Sami Al-Arian, Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatem Fariz and Ghassan Ballut are on trial in Tampa, charged with using charitable fronts for fundraising for the PIJ, which has claimed responsibility for over 100 deaths in Israel and the occupied territories since the early 1990s. U.S. District Judge James S. Moody has ruled that prosecutors must show the money defendants raised went for the violent purposes of the PIJ, or, at the very least, that it went to "further future unlawful activity" of the PIJ.

Prosecutors say the charitable fundraising through Elehssan is a front for violence, but have not clearly traced the money to violent acts. Defense attorneys say the money was used for charity.

Ultimately, the big question will probably be whether money for poverty-stricken families of dead suicide bombers in the occupied territories was for charity or the furtherance of violence.

To drive home their point about charitable fronts, prosecutors on Monday brought up an affidavit from Ziad Abu-Amr, a legislator for the Palestinian Authority.

Prosecutors say it shows Al-Arian obstructed justice because he influenced Abu-Amr to write untruths about PIJ activity in the United States.

In the document, Abu-Amr says the PIJ did not have a U.S. wing and that it carried out charitable activities as well as suicide bombings.

But prosecutors say the defendants were the U.S. wing of PIJ. Prosecutors started to revisit the affidavit Monday as evidence that Al-Arian obstructed justice. But defense attorneys objected, saying the document was irrelevant.

In July, Abu-Amr testified in person that he was not influenced by Al-Arian to write the affidavit.

For the defense, the document shores up their position that their clients were not involved in PIJ violence. For the prosecution, it is the basis for obstruction of justice charges.

The judge ruled Monday that prosecutors could reintroduce it. But he ruled in June that prosecutors could not tell jurors the U.S. Treasury Department declared Elehssan a "charitable front" for the PIJ in May 2005, almost a year and a half after Al-Arian and the other defendants were charged.

In fact, it was those charges that the Treasury Department cited as the reason for declaring Elehssan a terrorist organization. The May 2005 announcement refers to the Abu-Amr affidavit as a "signed declaration" that says the "PIJ runs or supports a number of organizations, including Elehssan."

The defense, on the other hand, says the document helps them because it shows holes in the prosecution's case.

Today, there will be more arguing about the document and who it serves. By late afternoon, the defense expects to begin cross-examination of FBI case agent Myers, who has been testifying for the prosecution for four weeks.

[Last modified August 23, 2005, 02:45:30]