Al-Arian Likened To Don In Mafia
Published: Nov 8, 2005
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TAMPA - -- After five months of sometimes dense and confusing testimony, jurors in Sami Al-Arian's terror-support trial look as if they have mastered the complex maze of foreign names and connections involved.
They looked focused Monday when federal prosecutor Cherie Krigsman threw such names as Shikaki, Awda, Hassanein and Bulbol at them. She then used her closing argument to crystallize the government's case against Al-Arian and three fellow defendants.
The men are like mobsters, using a series of charitable and educational organizations as fronts to provide a veneer of legitimacy to hide their true agendas, Krigsman said.
"Sami Al-Arian was a professor by day and a terrorist by night," she said.
Al-Arian served in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's upper management, she said, citing evidence that he was secretary on the group's governing board. Like Mafia dons, Al-Arian, Ghassan Ballut, Hatim Fariz and Sameeh Hammoudeh labored in the shadows so others could wage attacks.
"They don't strap bombs on their bodies," Krigsman said. "They leave that to somebody else. But that makes perfect sense. Somebody has to be alive to mind the shop."
The men are charged in a 51-count indictment, including four conspiracy counts of racketeering and of conspiring to commit murder abroad, to provide material support to terrorists and to engage in illegal transactions on behalf of the group.
Krigsman gave jurors examples of evidence she said proved the men were guilty of the conspiracies. The case is built upon bank records, their speeches at videotaped rallies, and secretly intercepted telephone calls and faxes.
That's where the names come in. Naim Nasser Bulbol and Salah Abu Hassanein are associated with an Islamic Jihad charity in the occupied territories that received money from the defendants. Fathi Shikaki was the Islamic Jihad's founder and leader until his 1995 assassination. Sheik Abdel Aziz Awda was the group's spiritual leader and a consistent presence at fundraisers and other meetings in the United States.
Defense attorneys say the men only gave to charitable organizations and that their words are protected by the First Amendment.
"Words are the fuel of a criminal conspiracy," Krigsman said.
Often, those words were lies. FBI agent Manny Perez testified about a series of interviews he had with Al-Arian starting in 1991. Al-Arian denied being part of the Islamic Jihad, condoning violence or associating with those who do.
Introduced As Jihad Leader
Months earlier, Al-Arian attended a fundraiser in Cleveland, accepting an introduction as the head of "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine" and extolling its members.
Krigsman pointed to immigration forms for Al-Arian, Ballut and Hammoudeh in which the men failed to list their affiliations with a charity Al-Arian created. Then she played a 1994 interview Al-Arian gave Steven Emerson for the PBS documentary "Jihad in America."
In it, Al-Arian denied his charity was part of the Islamic Jihad and even asked what the initials PIJ stood for.
"The whoppers roll off his tongue with ease," Krigsman said.
To convict the men, jurors must find that they knew the Islamic Jihad waged terrorist attacks and that their help might assist the group's illegal activities.
The presentation started with a reminder of what the Islamic Jihad is all about. Merging separate exhibits, prosecutors played a videotape taken minutes after a 1995 suicide bombing attack on an Israeli bus.
A van packed with explosives slammed into the bus as it neared the Kfar Darom settlement in the Gaza Strip. Superimposed over the chaotic images was an English translation of the Islamic Jihad's statement claiming responsibility that was sent to an office Al-Arian controlled in Tampa. The group said it was "cheerfully announcing the news of the martyrdom" of the van driver and vowing more attacks.
The video showed dead and wounded lying near the bus while rescue workers scurried about. Eight people died in the attack, including American student Alisa Flatow.
"Hot, metal shrapnel propelled at blinding speed" killed her, Krigsman said.
The men aren't charged with plotting that, or any other attack. But their contributions to the group help make them possible, she said.
The men worked on the Islamic Jihad's behalf "all the while knowing full well the unbelievably savage acts of terror the PIJ committed," Krigsman said.
Ballut ran operations in Chicago and served as a troubleshooter. She called Fariz "a rising star" who moved to Tampa in 2002 to work under Al-Arian's tutelage.
$20,000 Wire Transfer Cited
And Hammoudeh was on the Islamic Jihad's payroll, she said. She highlighted a $20,000 wire transfer he received from group founder Fathi Shikaki in 1994. Hammoudeh gave $4,000 of that to Ramadan Shallah, then a researcher at Al-Arian's think tank and now the Islamic Jihad's secretary general.
The think tank could not risk accepting a direct deposit from the Islamic Jihad, she said, so it used Hammoudeh to serve as intermediary. "That's as clear a case of money laundering as you can get," Krigsman told jurors.
Hammoudeh also sent money to support the Islamic Jihad in ways designed to avoid detection, Krigsman said. Contributions always went through third parties and never directly to the charity. Sometimes, cash was sent with people traveling to the occupied territories.
Islamic Jihad bylaws, seized during the 10-year criminal investigation, call for caution to be used in handling money. "People who give to legitimate charities don't behave this way," Krigsman said.
Her argument continues this morning. Al-Arian's attorneys are scheduled to go next.
HIGHLIGHTS
The prosecution alleges that:
•The defendants were "hiding in plain sight" through a series of front organizations.
•They repeatedly lied to law enforcement and in immigration papers to conceal their work in support of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
•Their own words at rallies and fundraisers show they knew that the Islamic Jihad conducted terrorist attacks, and they continued to provide financial and organizational support for that.
