FBI Arrests Florida Professor Accused of Terror Ties

Fox News on-line ^ | Thursday, February 20, 2003 | AP

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

TAMPA, Fla.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Anybody else remember Bill O'Reilly interviewing this man in late Sept. of 2001? Go, Bill O'Reilly!

[Search4Truth]

Warms my heart. Great way to start a Friday. Any pictures of him in shackles?

[truthkeeper]

I remember that whole O'Reilly bruhaha too.

[txradioguy]

I saw the interview the night it happened. I was in Tampa in November when USF was trying to fire him and it got drug into court. This arrogant S.O.B. is getting what he deserves.

[prairiebreeze]

**"It's all about politics," Al-Arian told reporters**

Yes, and apparently those politics that Al-Arian supports!

Prairie

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

It was a *great* interview. O'Reilly didn't back down for a moment, and the Pali professor came off in the interview in a VERY bad light....... which would be appropriate since he apparently sponsors terrorism!

[snippy_about_it]

This is Thursday isn't it?

Great news whatever day it is!

[cyncooper]

O'Reilly may be worth watching tonight in case he replays any or all of the interview.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Here you go! Ask and ye shall receive! (Found at the Tampa Tribune website!)

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAJ5HTOECD.html

TAMPA - University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian was arrested by federal agents early Thursday morning on a sealed federal indictment that is believed to accuse him of supporting terrorists.

Agents swooped in on the tenured computer scientist's apartment at about 5:15 a.m. At least two other Tampa men were arrested in the case and other arrests may be taking place in Illinois.

In addition, Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Abdel Aziz-Odeh, the group's former spiritual leader, are named in the indictment. Shallah lives in Damascus, Syria and Odeh may be in the Palestinian territories. It is unclear whether the United States will attempt to extradite them.

The indictment is believed to charge racketeering and material support for terrorism.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Tampa U.S. Attorney Paul Perez are expected to detail the charges during an afternoon news conference in Washington, D.C. Al-Arian also will make an initial court appearance sometime today.

Al-Arian organized a religious charity and a think tank agents have suspected were support arms for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A search warrant allowed FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs agents to search Al-Arian's home and the offices of the Islamic Committee for Palestine and the World and Islam Studies Enterprise in November 1995.

The raid came three weeks after Shallah, a former official of both the charity and the think tank, assumed command of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian denied any knowledge of Shallah's connection to terrorists and has steadfastly denied doing anything in support of terrorist groups.

"It's all about politics,'' he told reporters as he was led into the FBI office Thursday morning.

It is unclear what today's arrest does to Al-Arian's employment at the University of South Florida. University President Judy Genshaft suspended him with pay in September 2001, after an appearance on the FOX News program ""The O'Reilly Factor'' prompted a flood of complaints and at least a dozen death threats. The university later moved to fire Al-Arian, saying his outside activities compromised campus security and normal university operations.

The academic community rallied to Al-Arian's side, arguing that he is being punished for exercising free speech rights and that his firing would violate the principles of academic freedom.

Reporter Michael Fechter can be reached at (813) 259-7621.

[Rocko]

Anybody have a current Fox News Real Player link for Internet viewing? The link I'd been using the past few weeks, http://umtv-live.rs.itd.umich.edu/itcom/avs01.ram, just became outdated a few minutes ago.

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Not sure how to help you specifically, but here's the Tampa news video regarding this arrest.

http://multimedia.tbo.com/multimedia/popup/video/0220arrest.htm

[yoe]

Yup, I remember and I also remember how smug the Professor was. O'Reilly nailed him early on but the powers that be at USF gave him the benefit of a doubt as was proper. However, now the gloves are off and all tenured teachers should watch their backs not only for promoting jihad practices, but for any other un-American remarks or acts. It is not all about politics Al-Arian, it is about using your host county for purposes of evil. Americans are pretty tolerant until you start undermining their country while hiding behind our Constitution and using Political Correctness as a weapon for the weakness’ in academia. He should be deported and never allowed to return to the USA, the cloud he is under is obviously more than just suspicion.

[Search4Truth]

DOH! Another one. We just had one :). Need Coffee.

[pikachu]

He was quizzed about links to known terrorists, and asked about tapes from the late 1980s and early 1990s in which he said "Death to Israel" in Arabic. The university says that hurt the school's fund-raising efforts and resulted in threats being made against the school.

Gee, too bad the University was concerned about getting money and not what THEIR professor was preaching. Imagine the nerve of some people refusing to fork over their cash just because Al-Arian was raising funds to kill non-muslems. Maybe they are connected somehow you chowder brained college administrators???

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***A 1996 report for USF prepared by Tampa lawyer Wm. Reece Smith somehow managed to find "no evidence" that Al-Arian or WISE had supported terrorism. For better or worse, USF officials allowed Al-Arian to keep his job then, despite the embarrassment he brought to the university by misrepresenting WISE's activities. There is no evidence that Al-Arian has engaged in fund-raising for PIJ or any other terrorist group since WISE was shut down in 1995. Still, the embarrassment to the university hasn't ended. USF President Judy Genshaft put Al-Arian on paid administrative leave again last month because of campus safety concerns after Al-Arian made a controversial appearance on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor. The recent national attention, some of which he actively courted, has backfired on Al-Arian. He is still a legal resident of the country he damned, and he may yet return to lecture (though presumably not on Middle Eastern politics) at the university he embarrassed. But he'll never again get away with the pretense that his ugly support for terrorism has been misunderstood.***Source

[Search4Truth]

Thanks. He didn't look so smug this time being led away in handcuffs as he did on Mr. O. The Libs are going to have a coniption fit.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

"Campus safety"? Whose safety, pray tell, were the University administrators concerned about? The students'? The prof's?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the fact that the University got this man out of that environment. But that's a really "lame" (probably CYA, PC-style) excuse!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

University of South Florida: Al-Arian Related Documents Index

Al-Arian Related Documents Index

Media Contact: Michael Reich
Email: reich@admin.usf.edu Phone: (813) 974-9047

USF Board Of Trustees Resolution

President's Report to Trustees

USF-WISE Timeline

Legal Opinion to USF by Attorney Thomas Gonzalez

President's Statement

Statement by Governor Bush

-USF-