Sami Al-Arian

This week we received some bad news in the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. The announcement is below.

Three months after refusing to testify before a third grand jury, Dr. Sami Al-Arian - whose trial has been the single most important test case of the PATRIOT Act - was charged on two counts of contempt of court. Dr. Al-Arian refused to testify not only because the plea agreement he concluded with the government in 2006 clearly exempts him from having to do so, but also because it was a clear perjury trap.

Many of us have been concerned and following the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, who has been illegally detained by the U.S. government since 2003.

We recently received the following action alert and hope you will join us in spreading the word and speaking out to free Dr. Al-Arian.

As we speak, the US government is manipulating the justice system to keep the high-profile prisoner Dr. Sami Al-Arian imprisoned indefinitely.

Despite having never been convicted of any crime whatsoever, and despite being an upright citizen who dedicated his life to improving America, Dr. Al-Arian has been imprisoned since 2003 for exercising his First Amendment rights. Any day now, he may be indicted on criminal contempt, a charge that carries a minimum sentence of five years. Another Palestinian-American professor in a similar case was sentenced to eleven years for criminal contempt last fall.