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Al-Arian co-defendant wants 8 charges dropped

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 16, 2005

TAMPA - Hatem Fariz, co-defendant of Sami Al-Arian, asked the federal court Thursday to dismiss the remaining eight counts of the conspiracy indictment against him.

Fariz was acquitted on 25 counts on Dec. 6. When jurors could not reach a verdict on eight counts, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. declared a mistrial for those counts. Prosecutors have not yet said whether they will retry him. Fariz, who lives in Spring Hill, is free on bond.

Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor, was acquitted on eight counts. He remains in a Hillsborough jail while prosecutors decide whether to retry him on nine counts that ended in a mistrial. Moody has granted his attorneys an extension of the deadline to ask for acquittals on his remaining charges.

Lawyers for Fariz filed a motion Thursday saying the government "failed to prove each and every element of each of the offenses."

Fariz, Al-Arian and two other men were on trial accused of conspiring to raise money to support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. PIJ has taken credit for more than 700 killings in Israel and the occupied territories.

[Last modified December 16, 2005, 00:54:19]