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No Guilty Verdicts In Al-Arian Trial

By MICHAEL FECHTER, ELAINE SILVESTRINI and LENNY SAVINO The Tampa Tribune

Published: Dec 6, 2005

TAMPA - Once billed as a major strike in the war on terrorism, the case against Sami Al-Arian crumbled Tuesday when jurors rejected federal charges that Al-Arian and three co-defendants operated a North American cell for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Tears of joy at the defense table met with blank expressions of shock among prosecutors after jurors deadlocked on nine counts against Al-Arian and found him not guilty of conspiring to commit murder abroad, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

"I think the jury were open-minded people - able to see through what the government was saying," said Ali Al-Arian, son of the former University of South Florida professor and a high school sophomore. Speaking outside the courthouse, he said, "There was no evidence at all."

Defendants Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Ballut were acquitted on all counts. Hatim Fariz was acquitted on the counts on which jurors could reach a verdict.

The jury's decision, on the 13th day of deliberations and six months to the day after the trial started, marks a stunning defeat for federal prosecutors.

Islamic Jihad is responsible for more than 100 deaths in attacks in Israel. In February 2003, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment, hailing it as a milestone in the war against terrorism.

That created an expectation that came crashing down in Tampa federal court.

"This ranks as one of the most significant defeats for the U.S. government, for the Justice Department since 9/11," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University Law School who has represented other terrorism defendants.

"The Justice Department spent copious amounts of money and time to make the case against Al-Arian."

Prosecutors relied on hundreds of intercepted telephone calls and faxes to try to demonstrate that the defendants were providing money for the Islamic Jihad.

Financial records showed money flowing in and out of accounts, with some going to a charity run by the terrorist group. Other money went to charity, but prosecutors questioned why legitimate donations intended to help orphans and other needy people couldn't be sent directly.

One juror, who gave only her first name, said prosecutors failed to connect the dots on the conspiracies charged. Jurors were left to assume the defendants were aiding the Islamic Jihad even when the evidence didn't prove it, said Thanh, a 38-year-old department store sales associate from Lakeland.

She believed prosecutors' claims that Al-Arian served on the Islamic Jihad's governing board but said that did not justify a conviction.

She offered money-laundering counts as an example: "They showed money moving to different accounts, but ... they didn't show it went to any terrorist organization," she said. "If money went to Egypt, that was it. We didn't know where it went from there."

When prosecutors were able to track money to a destination, she said, jurors agreed it went to charity.

War Against Terrorism

U.S. Attorney Paul Perez first had no comment when asked what effect the verdicts would have on the country's war against terrorism. But then he said, "I don't think there's any connection between the two things."

That's at odds with statements he and Ashcroft made in announcing the indictment.

Then, Perez called the defendants "major terrorist financial supporters who took advantage of the freedoms of an open society to help foster anti-Western violence."

"We have an extensive record in breaking up terrorist financing," Ashcroft said. "Our record on terrorist financing is clear: We will hunt down the suppliers of terrorist blood money, we will shut down these sources, and we will ensure that both terrorists and their financiers meet the same swift, certain justice of the United States of America."

The Justice Department issued a statement late Tuesday saying it remained focused on prosecuting terrorism cases.

"While we respect the jury's verdict, we stand by the evidence we presented in court against Sami Al-Arian and his co-defendants," said the statement from spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos. "Discussions are ongoing as to whether the government will seek to retry defendants Al-Arian and Hatim Fariz on the outstanding charges."

Perez flew to Washington after the verdicts were reached and said his office and Justice Department officials would decide soon whether to seek a retrial on the counts on which the jury deadlocked. He said officials also will consider whether to proceed with extradition requests for any of five other defendants who were indicted in the case but are now overseas.

"As federal prosecutors, our job is to see that justice is done," Perez said. "We don't keep score on winners or losers. ... This case was a case that needed to be brought."

If prosecutors don't seek a new trial, immigration officials at the Department of Homeland Security are expected to try to hold Al-Arian while they try to strip him of permanent residency and deport him.

Hammoudeh is leaving the country voluntarily by the end of the month, his attorney said after the verdict. Hammoudeh and his wife pleaded guilty to unrelated fraud charges this year. He will return to the West Bank, where his family is from.

Hammoudeh flashed him a thumbs-up and a smile after Al-Arian's verdicts were read, then pumped his fist and smiled at his wife and daughter after hearing he had been acquitted on the 10 counts against him.

Tears flowed among relatives huddled in the back row of the courtroom gallery. Al-Arian wept, too, removing his eyeglasses and hugging attorney Linda Moreno.

Fair Trial Debate

Defense attorneys came into the case arguing they could not get a fair trial in Tampa. Years of attention on Al-Arian, in Tampa Tribune stories dating to 1995 and in the 2004 U.S. Senate race between Mel Martinez and former USF President Betty Castor, created a community bias against the defendants, they argued.

"We believe that the jury was under tremendous pressure to convict, which makes this all the more courageous," Moreno said after the verdict.

"The jury didn't buy the overwhelming, overreaching innuendo," she said. "This was a political prosecution because Dr. Al-Arian decided to speak out" about the plight of Palestinians.

The attorneys credit lengthy questionnaires submitted by prospective jurors that asked about everything from their reading habits to their views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

That helped secure a jury with the courage to judge the case on its merit, said Kevin Beck, an assistant federal public defender who represented Fariz.

"All four men had very different kinds of cases. The jury had to evaluate the evidence for each one of them in very different ways," Beck said. "Where Hatim is concerned, it's my belief that they recognized what he was trying to do in sending money to Gaza, and that was to help charities."

And Al-Arian attorney William Moffitt pointed to a pretrial ruling by U.S. District Judge James Moody. To convict, Moody ruled that prosecutors had to prove the defendants knowingly and willfully worked to advance the Islamic Jihad's illegal activities.

That opened the door to a defense rooted in the First Amendment, Moffitt said.

Al-Arian will remain in jail until his attorneys can file a new motion for bail. That won't come immediately, Moffitt said.

"Let me rejoice first," he said. "There's a lot of things we have to think about."

Turley expects a new trial for the charges on which jurors were deadlocked.

"I think the government's in this for a penny or a pound," he said. "This is an enormous embarrassment to the government. The government is so enormously invested in convicting Al-Arian, it's hard to believe they will walk away. There are too many résumés at the Justice Department at risk."

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, who won convictions against Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman for plotting to blow up New York landmarks, advocated a new trial.

"It's a terrible result, but there were important counts the jury hung on. Given the national priority of counterterrorism ... I would argue the government will retry the large counts that have to do with aiding terrorist organizations," McCarthy said.

Outside the courthouse, relatives and friends celebrated the verdict. Women and others shouted "God is great" in Arabic.

Ballut and Fariz were surrounded and embraced.

The Al-Arian family described the toll the ordeal has had on them.

Ali Al-Arian said he did not know what to expect. "It's been really difficult without my dad," he said.

Al-Arian and Hammoudeh have been jailed without bail since the 2003 indictment.

The night before the verdict, Ali visited with his father at the Orient Road Jail.

"He was really optimistic," Ali said. "He said: 'Trust me. There's no way they'll say I'm guilty.' "