InFocus: Tell us about your father’s ordeal from the beginning.
Laila Al-Arian: My father was arrested on Feb. 20, 2003 and was charged with supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was held under punitive atrocious conditions for 2.5 years before his trial even started. He was in solitary confinement and denied phone calls for six months at a time. Convicted felons were allowed contact visits, but we had to visit him from behind glass. He was treated differently from other prisoners because he is Muslim and Palestinian. His six-month trial finally began in June 2005 and cost the government over an estimated $50 million.
IF: What was the outcome of the case?
LA: On Dec. 6, 2005, my father was acquitted on eight of the 17 charges against him. The jury was actually in favor of acquittal 10-2, so most wanted full acquittal. Although the government could have dropped the charges, because this case is so politically motivated, they threatened to retry the remaining ones. We were drained physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. My father just wanted to end this nightmare so he decided to sign a plea agreement in April 2006 in which the government promised to recommend the minimum sentence so he would be out in a month.
IF: What was the result of the plea bargain?
LA: To everyone’s surprise on the day of sentencing on May 1, 2006, the judge gave my father the maximum sentence, instead of the promised minimum. He also gave a very hateful, bigoted politically charged speech to justify the sentence. Despite this, my father could have been out by April 13 of this year. But instead he is still in prison and is being held in contempt.
IF: What is the contempt charge brought against him?
LA: In November of 2006, a very bigoted prosecutor in Virginia named Gordon Kromberg, who has been investigating a group of Islamic think tanks and charities in Virginia for five years, was trying to drag my father into that investigation under the pretext that he wants his testimony. My father said that he had told the government from the very beginning that he wouldn’t sign a plea agreement which includes any provision that requires his cooperation or testimony. It’s against his moral beliefs. He also believes he has nothing to offer the government.
IF: Why do they want Professor Al-Arian to testify in this case, and why does he feel so strongly against testifying?
LA: The government has tapped his phones, read his emails. His testimony is not going to give them anything they don’t already have. We believe Kromber’s main goal is to trap my father. He did this with a different defendant in the Virginia 11 case. That person was tried and acquitted, but then Kromberg brought him before a grand jury and he testified. Kromberg then rejected his testimony and accused the man of perjury or obstruction of justice. That man is now facing 25 years in prison. My father’s own lawyers even advised him not to testify because you can’t trust this U.S. attorney. When my father didn’t testify in Ramadan per his lawyer’s advice, Kromberg said, "If they can kill each other in Ramadan, they can testify before a grand jury." He also said, "I will take no part in the Islamization of America and I will have no part in the Islamization of the American justice system."
IF: Can you tell us about Dr. Al-Arian’s hunger strike?
LA: On Jan. 22 of this year, my father went on a hunger strike because he realized that the contempt charge was just unending government harassment. He lost 55 pounds, became extremely weak, and ended up in a wheel chair. He almost looked like a living skeleton. We were extremely concerned about his health.
IF: What did he hope to achieve with it?
LA: Like any political prisoner in history, he feels the world isn’t paying attention to his plight. Everyone is silent, the media is silent, socially conscientious people are silent. He hoped that it would bring attention to his case, which thankfully it did. The hunger strike is him taking a moral stand and saying that he deserves to be treated as a human being and deserves to live in dignity.
IF: What kind of response and from what groups did you receive?
LA: Some of the national Muslim organizations have been outspoken. There was an ad in the form of a letter in The Washington Post a few weeks ago asking the Attorney General to keep his promise and release my father. We received letters of support from as far as Western Europe. The National Council of Churches sent out an action alert through which the Justice department received 5000 emails from people concerned with what’s happening to my father.
InFocus: How has this ordeal affected your family?
LA: In the beginning we felt very alone. People were intimidated by the government and it was difficult to find people who were courageous enough to stand by us. My mom describes the ordeal as an earthquake: A huge life changing experience. I had a sister who was 9 at the time and a brother who was 12. They’ve grown up for over four years without their father’s love, support, and wisdom. Their life has been defined by jail visits and by phone calls at night from my father.
InFocus: What action would you like to see from the people of conscience?
LA: Contact Congress and tell them that they need to advocate on behalf of my father’s rights to live in peace, dignity and freedom. They need to ask the Department of Justice to keep its promise and release him next month. Writing articles is always helpful, and also writing to him. My father has gotten many more letters from non-Muslims than Muslims. Organize teach-ins and lectures about the case.
IF: Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel? Any word from the lawyers about what’s going to happen next?
LA: Unfortunately, we just found out that the most conservative fourth circuit court in Richmond, Va. denied our appeal that forcing my father to testify was a violation of the plea agreement. Now we will go back to the same judge who has held my father in contempt and argue that my father is not going to testify, and I think the hunger strike made that clear.
IF: Do you ever imagine what you would do the day he is finally free?
LA: My mom would cook his favorite food, and he would just relax for once in his life. I try not to think about that day that much because it feels so far away right now. I hope it’s not, but it just feels that way.
