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<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=-1><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Showing
Thursday, May 1st, in Cambridge:<BR> </FONT></FONT><BR><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BIG><B><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><IMG height=587 alt="" hspace=10
src="cid:05de01c8a6ff$28529070$6401a8c0@DellDesktop" width=454 align=right>USA
vs Al-Arian</SPAN></I></B></BIG><BR><O:P></O:P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">USA vs
AL-ARIAN</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> is an intimate
family portrait that documents the American-Muslim family Al-Arian's desperate
attempt to fight terrorism charges leveled by the US
Government.<SPAN> </SPAN>(99
min)<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><O:P></O:P>In
February 2003, university professor and pro-Palestinian civil rights activist
Sami Al-Arian was arrested in Tampa, Florida, charged with providing material
support to a terror organization. For 2 ˝ <SPAN> </SPAN>years he was held
in solitary confinement, denied basic privileges and given limited access to his
attorneys. While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its
campaign against international terrorism, Sami Al-Arian claims he was targeted
in an attempt to silence his political views.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The film follows Sami
Al-Arian’s wife Nahla and their five children throughout his 6 month-long trial.
It is an intimate family portrait that documents the strain brought on by the
trial, a battle waged both in court and in the media. In the film a tight-knit
family unravels before our very eyes as trial preparations, strategy and spin
consume their lives. </SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This is a nightmare
come to life, as a man is prosecuted for his beliefs rather than his
actions.<BR>[see below for NLG article, March 2008] ]<BR></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial Black','sans-serif'"></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><FONT
size=-1><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B>When/where</B><BR>7
pm<BR>243 Broadway, Cambridge - corner of Broadway and Windsor, <BR>entrance on
Windsor<BR><A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://rule19.org/videos"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://rule19.org/videos</A><BR><BR>Please join us for a
stimulating night out; bring your friends! Free <BR>film, free refreshments,
& free door prizes.<BR>[donations are accepted]<BR></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=-1><FONT face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR>"</FONT></FONT><I><SPAN
class=body>You can't legislate good will - that comes through
education.</SPAN></I>" ~ Malcolm X<BR><FONT size=-1><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><BR><B>Unveiling Palestine film series
- see <A class=moz-txt-link-freetext href="http://rule19.org/videos"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://rule19.org/videos</A></B><BR>Why should YOU care?
It's your money that pays for the occupation & <BR>illegal Israeli
settlements.<BR></FONT></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Every time anyone
says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can’t help but think
that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">.” ~ Father John
Sheehan, S.J.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><FONT size=-1><FONT
face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><B><BR>__________________________________________<BR></B>FYI:<B><BR></B><BR></FONT></FONT><B>NATIONAL
LAWYERS GUILD CALLS THIRD SUMMONS TO GRAND JURY OF<BR>DR. SAMI AL-ARIAN PUNITIVE
GOVERNMENT HARRASSMENT</B> - <FONT size=2>Tuesday, March 4, 2008<BR><A
class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://www.nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry080304-111903"
moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry080304-111903</A><BR></FONT><BR>New
York. Dr. Sami Amin Al-Arian, who has spent the past four years in jail despite
a jury’s failure to return a single guilty verdict against him, has been called
before a third grand jury despite the fact that Al-Arian signed a
“no-cooperation” agreement with the government providing that he would not be
required to appear before any grand jury. The announcement came yesterday, one
month before his scheduled release.<BR><BR>Past-National Lawyers Guild President
Peter Erlinder, Al-Arian's counsel in 4th Circuit and 11th Circuit appeals, and
on the "acquitted conduct" Supreme Court cert petition said, "The duplicity of
the Justice Department and the failure of the courts to recognize basic
contract-law principles in this case is an example of how politically-motivated
"war on terror" prosecutions are distorting the American legal system. In the
Al-Arian case, the Justice Department and the courts have made a mockery of the
Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial which should outrage all Americans as
deeply as the Tampa jury that acquitted Dr. Al-Arian more than two years
ago."<BR><BR>It is now likely that when Dr. Al-Arian again refuses to testify
because of the "no-cooperation" agreement, he will be charged with obstruction
of justice and could receive several additional years in prison. If he
testifies, he faces a "perjury" trap based on Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon
Kromberg's past practice with other acquitted Palestinian
defendants.<BR><BR>When he was arrested in February 2003, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was
a prominent Palestinian academic and a leading member of the Muslim community in
south Florida and one of the most prominent Palestinian academics and activists
in the United States. He was acquitted on eight of 17 charges against him
December 2005 after a six month trial with three co-defendants. In April 2006 he
pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy, involving assisting his brother
in law in his immigration matters and denying to a reporter that he knew of a
colleague's association with Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In return, federal
prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining eight charges on which the jury had
"hung" 10-2 for acquittal and to recommend a time-served sentence with release
and deportation in May 2006. The Tampa AUSA admitted, on the record, that the
usual "cooperation clause" was removed from the plea agreement because Dr.
Al-Arian and his lawyers would not agree to any form of cooperation.<BR><BR>At
sentencing on May 1, 2007, Tampa Federal Judge James Moody gave him the
constitutional maximum sentence of an additional year, citing the very offenses
of which the jury had acquitted him. Despite the "no-cooperation" agreement, and
while the appeal of his acquitted conduct sentence was pending on appeal,
Al-Arian was found in civil contempt in January 2007. In December 2007, a
federal judge in lifted the civil contempt and Al-Arian's new release date was
April 2008.<BR><BR>After the contempt detention Dr. Al Arian went on a 100-day
hunger-strike because of the government's refusal to honor the plea agreement.
(He has just begun another hunger-strike.) Before trial Dr. Al-Arian was held in
Super-Max solitary and was subjected to inhumane and punitive conditions,
including 23-hour lockdown, abuse from prison staff, unsanitary conditions with
exposure to vermin, denial of adequate winter clothing, bedding and religiously
appropriate diet, all in breach of Article 10 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party and has
triggered an on-going investigation by the DOJ Inspector General.<BR><BR>“This
latest decision to call Dr. Al-Arian before a grand jury clearly breaches his
plea bargain and seems a political maneuver to lengthen his prison term,” said
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. The
prosecutor in charge of the grand jury case in Virginia uttered anti-Islamic
remarks when discussing postponing Dr. Al-Arian’s transfer to Virginia during
Ramadan. “Anti-Islamic remarks by the Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Gordon
Kromberg are further cause for concern that Dr. Al-Arian is being subjected to
especially punitive treatment based on his religion,” continued Boghosian.
<BR><BR>
<DIV class=moz-signature>-- <BR>pf soto<BR><A href="http://rule19.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">rule19.org</A><BR><A href="http://upandout.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">UPandOUT.org</A><BR><A href="http://azapoi.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">AZAPOI.org</A><BR></DIV><BR><BR>
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