AL-ARIAN TRIAL UPDATE...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525479/posts
"Al-Arian jurors switched for deliberations"
sptimes.com ^ | Published November 15, 2005 | By MEG LAUGHLIN
Posted on 11/19/2005 10:09:42 PM PST by F15Eagle
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "TAMPA - As the Sami Al-Arian trial headed to the jury Monday, the judge made an abrupt change that could affect the outcome.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody announced that a juror whom two other jurors had accused of being biased in favor of the government would not take part in deliberations. He was replaced by an alternate juror who complained about him in late August.
The two jurors who complained said the juror in question, who wore Hawaiian shirts, had made "pro-government comments" and appeared to have "already made up his mind" that Al-Arian was guilty.
Moody announced Monday that the "Hawaiian shirt" juror was now an alternate. The next alternate in line then joined the jury, which begins deliberations this morning.
Former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Neal Sonnett, who is not involved in the case, said the juror change could affect the results: "It appears a juror with a possible bias has been replaced with a juror sensitive enough to report that possible bias. This could shift the course of deliberations."
Moody's concluding comments to jurors Monday were brief: "Parts of this trial have been more exciting than others. When I finish, you'll go to the jury room and begin your discussions." He then read the jurors instructions to follow during their deliberations.
The essence of what jurors will have to decide in the 51-count case: whether terrorism was supported by money that Al-Arian, Sameeh Hammoudeh, Ghassan Ballut and Hatem Fariz raised through the school and other organizations and sent to Israel's Occupied Territories for charitable purposes, sometimes linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Prosecutors say the money did. Defense attorneys say the money didn't.
"If you run with the pack, you're in," federal prosecutor Cherie Krigsman told jurors, referring to the defendants' link to the PIJ."
Thanks to expatguy for the ping to this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493999/posts
"General: Indonesians in on Thai insurgency"
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | September 29, 2005 | SUTIN WANNABOVORN
Posted on 09/29/2005 8:00:31 PM PDT by neverdem
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "BANGKOK, Thailand -- A security adviser to the prime minister said Thursday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand's Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia's al-Qaida-linked terror network."