Opening Arguments Held in Trial of Professor Sami Al-Arian
Opening arguments were held today in the trial of Tampa Professor Sami Al-Arian.
In his opening statement, Al-Arian's attorney, William Moffitt, characterized him as a scholar and political activist who spoke out with strong words against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories but committed no crimes.
"The evidence will show that this case is about Dr. Al-Arian's right to speak, your right to hear him and the attempt of the powerful to silence him," Moffitt told jurors.
The Government claims Al-Arian was the end-all and be-all of Palestinian terror financing.
Sami Al-Arian was at one time "the most powerful man in the world" in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, federal prosecutor Walter E. Furr III told jurors in his opening statement.
He and four others are charged with 53 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. Background from our May 15 post:
The terrorism trial of University of South Florida Professor Sami al-Arian begins tomorrow. He is being defended by Bill Moffitt of Washington, D.C., a highly esteemed trial lawyer and former President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. (NACDL) The Government alleges al-Arian was behind the financing of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel.
Al-Arian had established an Islamic academic think tank, a school, a mosque and a charity for Palestinian children - but authorities were questioning whether the true mission of Al-Arian's work was to finance terrorist attacks in Israel.
Al-Arian and four others are accused of 53 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists.
"Much of what people are saying about Sami Al-Arian could have been said likewise about Nelson Mandela," attorney William Moffitt said. "Now Nelson Mandela is a hero for having supported his people. Sami Al-Arian is a villain for being the voice of the Palestinian people. There aren't really a lot of voices in this country who have spoken favorably for the Palestinian people."
In the past, al-Arian was admitted to the White House where he met with Presidents Clinton and Bush.
Nearly two dozen other prominent political and government leaders from both parties - Hilary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott and Dennis Hastert among them - are reported by Al-Arian's attorneys to have had contact with him.
Nonetheless, the Government claims it can prove Al-Arian was involved with an attack from 1993.
The indictment alleges that in 1993, Al-Arian sent four wire transfers of nearly $2,000 each to the relatives of four convicted Islamic Jihad terrorists who had been convicted of the murder of three Israelis.
They point to video from the early 1990s in which a fiery Al-Arian shouts "Death to Israel" or when he shared the stage with Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The Government will have the family of one of the victims of the 1993 attack present at the trial.
Stephen Flatow, who has been subpoenaed to testify, said he wasn't told until 2003 that agents believed there was a connection between Al-Arian and the bombing that killed his daughter.
"I felt very, very good our government was finally standing up for Americans who are killed by other Americans on the other side of the world," he said. "If someone is going to provide the means to commit a crime, you are just as guilty as the person who pulled the plunger. If anything these guys are cowards."
If al-Arian's only connection to this particular attack is post-death money wires to the family of the suicide bombers, and his expression of appreciation for their crime after the fact, how does that make him a complicitor or participant in the attack itself?
Opening arguments will fill in the details of the Government's theory, so stay tuned. 
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