TAMPA - A judge sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian on Monday to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case, calling him ''an active leader'' in a Palestinian terror group.
Al-Arian, 48, was sentenced to four years and nine months, but he will get credit for the three years and three months he already has served.
Attorney Linda Moreno asked U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. to release her client now, but the judge refused and called Al-Arian ``a master manipulator.''
Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a State Department-designated terrorist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The former University of South Florida computer engineering professor took the plea deal even though a jury failed to convict him on any of the 17 charges against him after a six-month trial last year. His family said he took the deal to get out of jail and end their suffering.
I like this comment from Judge Moody:
Dismissing the defense contentions that money was raised for charities, Moody said: ``Your only connection to widows and orphans was that you create them.''
Actually, he got hoodwinked. He thought he was just going to be deported and get no more time. The judge didn't agree.