by Professor Sami Al-Arian
Snatched by the FBI
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de AztlanLos Angeles, Alta California - February 20, 2003 - (ACN) In an ever increasing assault on civil and human rights by the federal government, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, professor of Palestinian descent at the University of South Florida, was taken this morning from his home, handcuffed and led away by the Tampa, Florida Federal Bureau of Investigation. Professor Al-Arian, a tenured computer science professor at USF, was unjustly placed on forced leave and banned from campus shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and after an interview by the Fox News Channel. Dr. Al-Arian is an outspoken critic of Israeli policies against the Palestinians.
U.S. attorney's office spokesman Steve Cole in Tampa said that Attorney General John Ashcroft along with Paul Perez, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, would be holding an afternoon news conference in Washington concerning Dr. Al-Arian's shocking arrest . No further details have been provided by the FBI.
Dr. Al-Arian has been the target of the Zionist press and of U.S. Jewish academicians because of his unflinching opposition to Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine. Professor Al-Arian founded the "World and Islam Studies Enterprises", an Islamic think tank at USF and the "Islamic Concern Project Incorporated". He also founded the grass roots organization "Islamic Society of North America".
The first attack on Professor Al-Arian was against his tenured status and academic freedom at USF when the university President Judy Genshaft attempted to dismiss him but failed. She was able, however, to place Dr. Al-Arian on a forced leave of absence, a decision that Professor Al-Arian has been fighting in court. Also, the faculty union at USF filed a grievance on Al-Arian's behalf, saying that banning him from campus violated the union's contract, Al-Arian's right to academic freedom and its own policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of ethnicity and religious affiliation. Today, however, Genshaft said that she will meet with the school's lawyers to discuss whether she can now "fire" Professor Al-Arian. The attacks by Zionists at USF have been unrelenting.
Professor Al-Arian has also been attacked relentlessly by the US Jewish media. The media attacks have been led by the pundit Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel. O'Reilly is an extreme bigot who recently called undocumented Mexican workers "wetbacks" on the air. Here in Los Angeles, O'Reilly has a daily talk show on a Michael Eisner radio station and there is not one day that he does not bash both Mulsims and Mexicans. O'Reilly interviewed Professor Al-Arian soon after 9-11 and now he is twisting Dr. Al-Arian statements against him. O'Reilly has done the same to other activists who have agreed to be on his show.
Dr. Sami Al-Arian was born on January 14, 1958 in Kuwait from Palestinian parents. He came to the United States in 1975 and received his BS degree from Southern Illinois University in 1978 in Electrical Sciences and Systems Engineering. He also received his MS and Ph.D. degrees from North Carolina State University in 1980 and 1985, respectively, in the area of Computer Engineering. He has been a professor at the University of South Florida since 1986. He is a tenured associate professor at USF and received the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1993 and the Teaching Incentive Award in 1994. He has over forty Publications in the area of Computer design and test.
Dr. Al-Arian is also dedicated to interfaith dialogues, community development, and civil rights. He served on the board of the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality (HOPE), the largest community organization in Hillsborough County in the state of Florida, and a member of many other civic organizations. Dr. Al-Arian is a frequent speaker and lecturer on many campuses, churches, and conferences. He also serves as the local pastor or Imam of the local Islamic community in Tampa. Dr. Al-Arian is married to Nahla who is a teacher of comparative religions. They have 5 children.
The shameless attack on Professor Al-Arian by Zionists and the U.S. government has extreme consequences for all freedom loving Americans. Our civil, human and constitutional rights are now in shambles because of the powerful influence of Zionists in academia, the press and on the U.S government bureaucracy. Today they came for Professor Al-Arian! Who will they come for tomorrow?
