[act-ma] USA vs Al-Arian - view documentary online starting Monday, April 7th

pf soto pfsoto at mynas.com
Sat Apr 5 13:45:18 PDT 2008


UPandOUT <http://rule19.org/videos/index.htm> has scheduled for its May 
1st, 1st -Thursday-of-the-month,  film screening in Cambridge /*USA vs 
Al-Arian. */After the film, we will discuss latest updates in the case 
and in Sami's hunger strike. If you are unable to attend, you can *view 
the film online starting April  7th at linkTV*. Details below. *Please 
forward this info to all  your contacts, nationwide.*
Sami Al-Arian's case is a gross perversion of justice, and alas typical 
for anyone of his stature who dares to speak for Palestinian justice.
Also included below is 2) an April 2nd press release from Tampa Bay 
Coalition for Justice and Peace with a link to a *youtube video about 
Sami's ordeal *and 3) info about LinkTV.
*

**1) USA vs AL-ARIAN *

LINK TV PRESENTS USA vs AL-ARIAN
DOCUMENTARY TRACKS ARREST, IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL OF ARABAMERICAN SAMI 
AL-ARIAN

Exclusive footage includes in-depth interviews with Al-Arian, his wife 
and children

    * U.S. television premiere Monday, April 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m.
      PT, repeating
    * Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT and
    * Sunday, April 13 at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT,

*Program will be streamed in its entirety from April 7 to May 7 at 
www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian <http://%20www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian>*.

New York, NY, April 3, 2008 --- LINK TV presents the U.S. television 
premiere of USA vs AL-ARIAN, an intimate documentary portrait of an 
Arab-American family facing terrorism charges laid by the U.S. 
Department of Justice. In February 2003, the FBI arrested university 
professor and political activist Sami Al-Arian in Tampa, Florida.

Charged with supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, classified by the 
U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization, he was placed in 
solitary confinement for two and a half years before receiving a trial. 
Today, Al-Arian, who is diabetic, is on a hunger strike in protest of 
his continued imprisonment beyond his scheduled release date, despite 
being acquitted in a jury trial. His health is deteriorating rapidly, as 
his food and water strike nears the one-month mark. This timely 
documentary premieres on U.S. television on the five-year anniversary of 
Al-Arian's incarceration.

On December 6, 2005, Al-Arian was acquitted in a jury trial on eight of 
17 counts, and the jury voted 10 to 2 to acquit on all remaining 
charges. Accepting a plea bargain to end his ordeal, Al-Arian plead 
guilty to one count of conspiracy in aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad 
associates in nonviolent ways in return for receiving the minimum prison 
sentence, including time served, and to be deported from the country 
upon his release. According to his defense lawyers, the plea agreement 
stipulates that he would not be subject to any further prosecution or 
called upon to cooperate with the government on any matter, thus 
concluding once and for all, all business between the government and 
Al-Arian.

Yet, Al-Arian remains in prison today, a year beyond his scheduled 
release date of April 13, 2007. The Department of Justice is now holding 
Al-Arian in civil contempt for refusing to testify in March before a 
grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia against others -- like him -- accused 
of supporting Muslim charities that in turn, allegedly, funded terror 
organizations. USA vs AL-ARIAN is the personal story of the Al-Arian 
family, who like many Muslims in the U.S. today, are navigating the new 
laws and political climate of post-9/11 America.

The film follows Al-Arian, his wife Nahla and their five American-born 
children throughout the trial and its aftermath as they fight terrorism 
charges. This powerful documentary also explores themes of freedom of 
speech, civil liberties and the right to a fair trial. It is an up-close 
family portrait that documents a battle waged both in court and in the 
media.

*Program will be streamed in its entirety from April 7 to May 7 at 
www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian <http://%20www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian>*.
Photography and background information available at these links: 
www.USAvsAlArian.com <http://www.USAvsAlArian.com> and 
www.dalchowsverden.no/presskit_uvsaa 
<http://www.dalchowsverden.no/presskit_uvsaa>.


**

2) *PRESS RELEASE * [thanks, Elaine!]*
Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, April 2, 2008 *
 
To Protest Indefinite Detention, Sami Al-Arian on Hunger Strike
New YouTube video describes his case, highlights his plight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk>
www.freesaminow.com <http://www.freesaminow.com/>
 
The US Department of Justice continues to manipulate the legal system to 
keep Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely.         
Sami Al-Arian, a computer engineering professor from Tampa, Florida, was 
arrested on charges of supporting a designated terrorist organization in 
2003. Al-Arian proclaimed his innocence and maintained the charges were 
purely political. Almost three years later, a federal jury reached that 
same conclusion. Al-Arian was acquitted of the most serious charges 
against him following a six-month trial in 2005. The jury voted 10 to 2 
for acquittal on the remaining charges.  Dr. Al-Arian, to end his legal 
nightmare, then signed a plea bargain with the government that stated he 
would be released and deported as soon as possible. During the 
negotiations for the plea bargain, the government agreed to a 
stipulation by Dr. Al-Arian that he would not be called upon to testify 
in any other trial. The prosecutors accordingly removed the cooperation 
clause that is standard in plea agreements in the Middle District of 
Florida.

In total defiance of this agreement, a federal prosecutor from Virginia, 
Gordon Kromberg, has been trying for two years to force Al-Arian to 
testify before grand juries in an unrelated case. A judge announced on 
March 3rd, only weeks before Al-Arian's scheduled release date, that he 
would be summoned before a third grand jury. While Virginia prosecutors 
did not deny the understanding of no-cooperation, they claimed that the 
absence of an explicit clause exempting Dr. Al-Arian from testimony 
allowed them to continue trying to force his testimony. Dr. Al-Arian, 
who is diabetic, began a hunger strike on March 3rd, his third since he 
his arrest five years ago, to protest this continued government 
harassment. He has since lost more than 30 pounds and has grown 
considerably weaker. Al-Arian's hunger strike is his last recourse 
against the Bush administration's manipulation of the grand jury system 
to convict him.

The true motives of the prosecutor in this case are clear: U.S. Attorney 
Kromberg has made outrageously bigoted statements against Muslims:
http://www.washington-report.org/archives/April_2007/0704030.html 
<http://www.washington-report.org/archives/April_2007/0704030.html>

Kromberg has publicly stated that he believes in punishing by "other 
means" those he thinks are guilty but who were acquitted in court. He 
successfully engineered the perjury conviction of Sabri ben Kahla, 
another American Muslim acquitted of terrorism charges who now faces ten 
years in prison.

This is the Catch-22 of Sami Al-Arian: either he testifies and is 
charged and sentenced with perjury, or he refuses to testify and is 
found in criminal contempt. On March 20th, Dr. Al-Arian was brought 
before the third grand jury, where he refused to testify. Any day now, 
he may be charged and tried for criminal contempt and sentenced to a 
minimum of five years.
         
This case is a travesty of the American justice system. To raise your 
voice against this, please sign the petition in support of Dr. Al-Arian 
(petition.freesaminow.com <http://petition.freesaminow.com/>). For a 
summary of this case, please watch the newly-made gripping YouTube video 
based on the critically-acclaimed documentary USA vs. Al-Arian at: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk>.
*

3) ABOUT LINK TV*
Link TV is a nationally broadcast television channel devoted to 
providing diverse global perspectives on news, current events and world 
culture not typically available on other U.S. networks. Link TV 
regularly airs a robust selection of award-winning films and 
documentaries that explore the human condition from different 
multi-cultural perspectives.

A pioneer in news and current affairs programming, Link TV has been 
recognized domestically and internationally for its original news 
programs including the Peabody Awardwinning
daily broadcast Mosaic: News from the Middle East, which monitors and 
airs unedited selections of news reports from more than 30 
Middle-Eastern broadcasters; Latin Pulse, which presents an array of 
unedited news reports from Latin American broadcasters; and, Global 
Pulse which compares and contrasts a selection of reports from around 
the world on specific issues.

Link offers viewers original, innovative participatory programs 
promoting national and global citizen action. Most of Link's programs 
are available nowhere else on American television. Link supports the 
essential cultural role of world cinema by helping Americans to better 
to understand what is happening in the world. Link introduced world 
music to American television, and presents a carefully curated library 
of world music videos and documentaries from 97 different countries to 
viewers on a daily basis.

Link TV is a nationwide television network available in more than 30 
million U.S. homes as basic service on DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH 
Network channel 9410. Select programs are
shown on cable systems in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Link 
TV's original programs, world music videos, documentary clips and artist 
interviews are streamed on the Internet
at LinkTV.org. The channel has garnered the support of Bill Cosby, Dave 
Matthews, Cher, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Bonnie Raitt, Willie 
Nelson and others.
###
-- 
pf soto
rule19.org <http://rule19.org>
UPandOUT.org <http://upandout.org>
AZAPOI.org <http://azapoi.org>



-- 
pf soto
rule19.org <http://rule19.org>
UPandOUT.org <http://upandout.org>
AZAPOI.org <http://azapoi.org>
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