Free Republic

TAMPA, Fla. - A former professor was described by his attorneys Tuesday as a crusader for the Palestinian cause whose inflammatory words have been twisted by federal prosecutors intent on proving he is a terrorist. In shared closing arguments, attorneys Linda Moreno and William Moffitt said Sami Al-Arian did nothing but speak, write and publish strong words critical of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and advocate a better life for its people. "It has been a prosecution of his ideas and his beliefs, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is un-American," Moreno told the jury. Al-Arian, 47, and three...

TAMPA, Fla. - A fired college professor acted as a "crime boss" for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a murderous gang that operated like the Mafia, a federal prosecutor told a jury Monday. Although Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants are not charged with killing anyone, they conspired to bring about attacks and are just as guilty under the law as the suicide bombers who carried them out, prosecutor Cherie Krigsman said in closing arguments. "The men of the PIJ you got to know in this case, they didn't strap bombs to their body," she said. "They leave that to somebody else." Al-Arian,...