That cause, he has said, led a scholarly young man, later an academic, into the political arena - and ultimately led to his indictment on charges of supporting terrorism.

Sami Amin Al-Arian, 47, never has lived in what Palestinians consider their homeland. But his family, who left that homeland as exiles, trace their ancestors there back 1,400 years, he has said.

His life is documented in ``Shackled Dreams,'' published by an organization formed by Muslim leaders and civil rights activists largely to support him.

The book speaks at length of Palestinians' deprivation of rights at the hands of Arab nations and in the United States.

But it chiefly blames Israel, or pro-Israeli interests, citing ``political Zionism and its racist outlook on the world'' or ``pro-Israeli schemers'' for the problems of Palestinians and of Al-Arian. Prominent among those blamed is The Tampa Tribune, which initially reported in 1995 on the apparent links, and government suspicion of ties, between Al-Arian and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

2nd-Class Citizens

Al-Arian is one of five children of Amin and Laila Al-Arian, both originally from Jaffa, now part of Israel, where Amin's family owned a soap factory.

Amin moved to Gaza after the founding of Israel and worked for the United Nations until 1955, meanwhile meeting and marrying Laila. The couple were forced to flee to Kuwait, according to the book, where he got a government accounting job.

They were ordered to leave, the book says, when Amin refused a request from Kuwaiti intelligence services to become an informant against other Palestinians.

He moved his family, including young Sami, to Cairo and opened a small business. They found there a ``more open atmosphere,'' but still, ``Palestinians lived as second- class citizens,'' the book says.

``Sami would spend his formative years arming himself with education. ... He would read countless books on everything from theology, philosophy and history to politics, law and literature.''

In speeches, Al-Arian often talks about growing up in Cairo with his close friend, later his brother-in-law, Mazen Al- Najjar. He jokes that the two would hide each other's books, so their parents wouldn't scold them for spending all their money on books.

Al-Arian wanted to become a doctor but couldn't because the government closed medical schools to Palestinians, the book says.

The Land Of Hope

In 1975, ``full of hope and optimism,'' he moved to the United States, ``where, for centuries, people had come to escape oppressive conditions in their native lands.''

He studied electrical engineering and graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

While there, he became a religious and political activist - first in the Muslim Students Association, generally considered a mainstream Muslim group, but then as an early member of the Muslim Arab Youth Association, which news reports say was linked by government investigators to militant Middle Eastern groups.

Politically, Al-Arian sought to convince other Muslims that Palestine was ``the de facto front line of Islam's struggle for freedom,'' and should be the top cause of Muslims worldwide.

In 1979, while visiting his family in Egypt, he married Nahla Al-Najjar, Mazen's sister. The couple have five children, ages24 to 11.

Al-Arian next moved to North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he earned a doctorate in computer engineering and worked as a teaching assistant.

W.T. Easter, former associate department head who supervised his teaching work, remembers Al-Arian as ``a gentle sort of person, very amenable, very easy to work with'' but said he never learned much about Al-Arian's personal life or political views.

As a student and teacher, Easter said, Al-Arian ``certainly had the capability to have a career. ... I would not classify him as our brightest star, but in the median or maybe on the low side of the median.''

Tempests In Tampa

In 1986, Al-Arian moved his family to Tampa to teach computer science at the University of South Florida. Mazen Al- Najjar, who had moved to Raleigh to join Al-Arian in 1981, followed him to Tampa.

Al-Arian quickly became prominent in the Tampa Islamic community.

In 1987, he became the leader of Tampa's mosque after a takeover that Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reports say turned violent during a prayer meeting that May.

Al-Arian and Al-Najjar were present during the incident. Deputies filed charges against a woman named Hala Al- Najjar, but the charges were dropped.

Two years after the takeover, the mosque was renamed after Izzadin Al-Qassem, a Syrian killed by the British in 1935 and considered a martyr and spiritual guide by militant Islamists.

In 1988, Al-Arian founded the Islamic Committee for Palestine, an organization intended to publicize Palestinian issues. In 1991, he founded a think tank on Islamic issues, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise.

Federal investigators allege the Islamic Committee for Palestine served as a fundraising organization for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 1992, Al-Arian opened the Islamic Academy of Tampa, a private school at the mosque.

Then Al-Arian's world was fractured.

Subject Of Investigation

In late 1994, a documentary film shown on public television, ``Jihad in America,'' examining domestic cells of supporters of Islamic terrorists, portrayed him as part of such a cell. A Tampa Tribune investigation in May 1995 examined some of the apparent links among the Islamic Committee for Palestine, WISE and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad - links Al-Arian denies.

Federal investigators had been tapping Al-Arian's phones since at least early 1994. In fall 1995, they searched his home and offices and eventually confirmed they were investigating whether he was involved in supporting a terrorist group.

For years, the university and Al-Arian hung in limbo as no charges were filed. As the controversy continued, Al-Arian was placed on leave by USF then returned to the classroom.

Meanwhile, the controversy over deportation proceedings against Mazen Al-Najjar led Al- Arian into another political arena, as a supporter of George W. Bush for president in 2000. Seeking Muslim support in his tight race with Al Gore, Bush had indicated support for repealing the ``secret evidence'' laws under which Al-Najjar was denied bail.

Even while under investigation, Al-Arian attended White House meetings, and he and his family met Bush at the Plant City Strawberry Festival in 2000.

Al-Arian later said his campaign work among Muslims, who normally voted Democratic if at all, won Bush far more than his 537-vote Florida victory margin.

The Sept. 11 attacks appeared to alter the public view of the case and the course of the investigation. Federal prosecutors contend that new investigative powers available under the Patriot Act allowed the case to move forward. In February 2003, Al-Arian was indicted.

Denied bail, he spent the next two years at Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County but moved to Orient Road Jail in February to prepare for his trial.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.