TAMPA - Three other men on trial with Sami Al-Arian are also charged with conspiring to raise money to further violent acts of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for hundreds of deaths in Israel in the past decade.
Here is a summary of what federal prosecutors say is major evidence against the three men, as it relates to the main charges:
SAMEEH HAMMOUDEH, 45, of Tampa: He worked for World and Islam Studies Enterprise, Al-Arian's Tampa think tank, which was associated with the University of South Florida. Prosecutors say FBI recordings of phone conversations show he received a $1,000 a month salary from the PIJ. They also say he received a lump sum of about $20,000 from the PIJ.
And, prosecutors say he raised money for PIJ-related charities between 1995 and 2000, which he transferred to members of his family and others in the occupied territories to distribute to PIJ associates, then covered up the activity with phony charitable receipts.
To back up the PIJ salary allegation, an FBI agent emphasized a Jan. 22, 1994, phone conversation Al-Arian had with PIJ spiritual leader Abd Al Aziz Awda. In the conversation, Awda spoke of salaries for WISE employees: "$1,000 for Sameeh."
But another FBI agent agreed with Hammoudeh's attorney that PIJ money, which went to pay WISE salaries, went to three other employees, not Hammoudeh.
Prosecutors also showed April 1994 transfer records of $20,000 going into Hammoudeh's account from the PIJ, which they say was back pay. But Hammoudeh's attorney showed that his client transferred $16,000 of the money to the WISE account and $4,000 to the account of WISE employee Ramadan Shallah, who worked at WISE until June 1995.
An FBI forensic accountant said only a small percentage of money that Hammoudeh sent to the occupied territories matched up with charitable receipts. Defense attorneys say the money went for charitable causes and there is no evidence to the contrary.
HATEM FARIZ, 32, of Spring Hill: Prosecutors say more than $50,000 he transferred between 2001 and 2003 to the occupied territories went to people linked to the PIJ through a charitable organization called "the Elehssan Society" in Gaza. In a November 2002 phone conversation with an Elehssan administrator, Fariz asked him to change the name of the organization because it had become illegal. Later the same day, Fariz received a fax from Gaza with the new name, "Al Birr Wal-ehssan Society." Defense attorneys say the money to Elehssan went only for charitable work.
Prosecutors also emphasize a phone conversation that Fariz had on Jan. 22, 1995, after learning from media reports of a double suicide bombing in Beit Leid, Israel. In the conversation, Fariz asked a friend in Chicago to mention the bombings at an Islamic meeting at a local high school. The friend declined and Fariz dropped it. But prosecutors say it showed Fariz's role in "the cycle of terrorism" which requires terrorists to get the word out for fundraising purposes. Defense attorneys say that asking a friend to mention a news report at a gathering with other friends does not show a terrorist cycle.
And, finally, prosecutors have repeatedly referred to two telephone calls Fariz made to PIJ leader Ramadan Shallah in September 2002 to inquire about his health, after hearing that he was suffering from depression.
Prosecutors say the calls show Fariz's ongoing connection to the PIJ leadership. Defense attorneys say that Fariz never talked to Shallah because the person answering the phone didn't recognize his name and refused to put him through.
GHASSAN BALLUT, 43, of Tinley Park, Ill.: The earliest evidence against Ballut, according to prosecutors, was a speech he made at a 1991 Islamic Committee for Palestine conference in Chicago. Ballut says: "We must draw the gun in one line facing the enemy. Yes to jihad and armed struggle."
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody has repeatedly said the speeches offered as evidence were not a crime, but could be used to show knowledge of PIJ violence.
Prosecutors also showed more than $80,000 from Al-Arian's Tampa bank accounts that went into Ballut's Chicago bank account between 1990 and 1992. Prosecutors say the transfers show Ballut was part of a coverup to funnel money to the PIJ. Defense attorneys say he was head of a Chicago mosque and another organization that took charitable donations for needy Palestinians, and there is no connection between Ballut and PIJ violence. If convicted of the main charges to fund PIJ terrorist activities, the three defendants, along with Al-Arian, face possible life sentences in prison.
