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<font size="-1"><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><a
href="http://rule19.org/videos/index.htm">UPandOUT</a> has
scheduled for its May 1st, 1st -Thursday-of-the-month, film screening
in Cambridge <i><b><big><big><font color="#ff0000">USA vs Al-Arian</font></big></big>.
</b></i>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 <b>view the film online
starting April 7th at linkTV</b>. Details below. <b>Please forward
this info to all
your contacts, nationwide.</b><br>
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.<br>
Also included below is 2) an April 2nd press release from </font></font>Tampa
Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace<font size="-1"><font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> with</font><font
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> a link to a <b>youtube video
about Sami's ordeal </b>and 3) info about LinkTV.<br>
</font></font><b><br>
<br>
</b><img src="cid:part1.01050602.00000900@mynas.com" alt=""
align="right" height="485" hspace="10" width="343"><b><big>1) USA vs
AL-ARIAN </big></b><br>
<br>
LINK TV PRESENTS USA vs AL-ARIAN<br>
DOCUMENTARY TRACKS ARREST, IMPRISONMENT AND TRIAL OF ARABAMERICAN SAMI
AL-ARIAN<br>
<br>
Exclusive footage includes in-depth interviews with Al-Arian, his wife
and children<br>
<ul>
<li>U.S. television premiere Monday, April 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00
p.m. PT, repeating</li>
<li>Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT and</li>
<li>Sunday, April 13 at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT,</li>
</ul>
<b>Program will be streamed in its entirety from April 7 to May 7 at<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://%20www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian">
www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian</a></b>. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<b>Program will be streamed in its entirety from April 7 to May 7 at<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://%20www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian">
www.LinkTV.org/USAvsAlArian</a></b>. <br>
Photography and background information available at these links: <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.USAvsAlArian.com">www.USAvsAlArian.com</a>
and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dalchowsverden.no/presskit_uvsaa">www.dalchowsverden.no/presskit_uvsaa</a>.<br>
<br>
<img alt="" src="cid:part2.00080402.07040808@mynas.com" height="49"
width="682"><br>
<b><img alt="" src="cid:part3.05020801.06000000@mynas.com" height="131"
width="752"></b><br>
<br>
2) <b>PRESS RELEASE </b> [thanks, Elaine!]<b><br>
Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, April 2, 2008 </b><br>
<br>
To Protest Indefinite Detention, Sami Al-Arian on Hunger Strike<br>
New YouTube video describes his case, highlights his plight<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.<wbr>com/watch?<wbr>v=NPdpxxBR2jk</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.freesaminow.com/"
target="_blank">www.freesaminow.<wbr>com</a>
<br>
<br>
The US Department of Justice continues to
manipulate the legal system to keep Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned
indefinitely. <br>
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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
The
true motives of the prosecutor in this case are clear: U.S. Attorney
Kromberg has made outrageously bigoted statements against Muslims:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.washington-report.org/archives/April_2007/0704030.html"
target="_blank">http://www.washingt<wbr>on-report.<wbr>org/archives/<wbr>April_2007/<wbr>0704030.html</a><br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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
(<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://petition.freesaminow.com/"
target="_blank">petition.freesamino<wbr>w.com</a>).
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: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPdpxxBR2jk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.<wbr>com/watch?<wbr>v=NPdpxxBR2jk</a>.<br>
<b><br>
<br>
3) ABOUT LINK TV</b><br>
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.<br>
<br>
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<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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<br>
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<br>
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.<br>
###<br>
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<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://azapoi.org">AZAPOI.org</a><br>
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pf soto<br>
<a href="http://rule19.org">rule19.org</a><br>
<a href="http://upandout.org">UPandOUT.org</a><br>
<a href="http://azapoi.org">AZAPOI.org</a><br>
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