What they said

By Times Staff
Published May 2, 2006

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"I wish it could have been more. . . I think there's finality for USF. I'm concerned he will be sent somewhere else. He's a radical Islamic, in my view, a terrorist. I'm sure he will spin his evil web and continue to do it in the Middle East or wherever he ends up.''

Dick Beard, chairman for the University of South Florida board of trustees

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"The judge clearly doesn't respect the jury's verdict. He sounded like a racist judge at a civil rights trial in the 1950s.''

Abdullah Al-Arian, Sami Al-Arian's son

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"There's no doubt in my mind that he was a member of the PIJ. . .I think anybody who is found to be a master manipulator is a dangerous human being.''

U.S. Attorney Paul Perez outside the courthouse

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"There are victims on both sides of this. The judge only mentioned one side of the victims. . . I expected the judge to be balanced. . . Why do the Israelis deserve justice, and the Palestinians don't?''

Sameeh Hammoudeh, one of Al-Arian's co-defendants, who was acquitted on all counts and is awaiting deportation

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"The judge got it right. Al-Arian's masterful deception involved fooling this country.''

Steve Emerson, whose documentary film "Jihad In America'' first called attention to Al-Arian's involvement with Palestinian Islamic Jihad

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"We said from the very beginning of this case we felt this was the civil rights case of the 21st century. . . The jury knew this was a political prosecution.''

Linda Moreno, one of Al-Arian's defense attorneys