Al-Arian's Terror-Support Trial Near Jury Phase
Published: Nov 11, 2005
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TAMPA - -- Amid defense challenges to the integrity of the government's investigation of Sami Al-Arian and three others, a federal prosecutor told jurors Thursday that the men are being prosecuted for their actions, not their words.
Terry Zitek will conclude his rebuttal argument -- the last jurors will hear from the attorneys -- Monday morning. U.S. District Judge James Moody then will read legal instructions to the jury before deliberations begin.
Al-Arian, Ghassan Ballut, Hatim Fariz and Sameeh Hammoudeh could face life in prison if convicted in the 51-count indictment, which charges them with conspiracy to commit racketeering and support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Defense attorneys say the government is trying to punish the men for constitutionally protected speech.
The entire case is flawed, Fariz's attorney, Kevin Beck, told the jury. None of the investigators or prosecutors speaks Arabic, and there was no Palestinian on the team "to understand any cultural peculiarities that may exist."
Beck also challenged several government translations of secretly intercepted communications among the defendants.
Earlier, one of Ballut's attorneys said prosecutors tried to inflame the jury by repeatedly highlighting references to Ballut's interactions with Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah years before Shallah took over the group.
Prosecutors say the Chicago mosque Ballut created and ran was part of the Islamic Jihad, underwritten by Al-Arian and employing three of the group's members as its imams during the early 1990s.
Focusing on the mosque is "a sweeping condemnation of a religion and its institutions," co-counsel Bruce Howie said.
Zitek answered Al-Arian attorney William Moffitt's claim that the Islamic Jihad is an "instrument of foreign policy," available to wage attacks when peace talks fail. The Palestinian Authority, born of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, represents Palestinians, and not the Islamic Jihad, Zitek said.
The group increased its attacks after those accords raised hope for a peaceful settlement, Zitek said.
"That was their response. That tells you what this organization is all about," he said.
Prosecutors have described a "cycle of terror" in which the Islamic Jihad commits a terrorist attack, announces its responsibility and then uses that announcement to raise money to finance future attacks. They say the men helped spread the word and raise money.
Howie said there is no evidence Ballut played a part in any of those stages. The government's case is based on guilt by association and "a cycle of nonsense," Howie said.
Ballut never was targeted for a wiretap, and searches of his home, cell phone, bank records and passport turned up little or no evidence.
"It's not right to convict a man in this way," Howie said. "Not in this courtroom, not under our laws, not under that flag, not in this country."
