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National Briefing |
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By Various sources
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Al-Arian’s family calls latest charges against him ‘dirty game’
(AP and InFocus News Staff) RICHMOND, Va. – Dr. Sami al-Arian declined to enter a plea at his arraignment on June 30 after a federal grand jury indicted him on two counts of criminal contempt. Al-Arian has completed his nearly five-year prison term but remains in custody because he has refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Muslim charities and businesses. His attorneys had been negotiating his deportation, but the indictment puts that on hold. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Al-Arian’s family and Muslim groups are outraged at the latest developments. "This is a really dirty game the government is playing," Arian’s daughter, Laila, told the Washington Post.. "They’ve already put him through enough. Enough is enough. This will have repercussions in the American Muslim community and throughout the world." Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor, was taken into federal custody in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he was a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a terrorist organization, but his 2005 trial in Florida ended in acquittal on some charges and a hung jury on others. The government decided to retry him, and he agreed to a plea bargain on lesser charges. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. Critics say the case reflects overzealous prosecution of Muslim-Americans. Earlier this year, al-Arian went on a 57-day hunger strike to protest his detention. "After failing to convict Dr. al-Arian before a Florida jury, the government has continued to use any and all means to prolong his confinement," said al-Arian’s attorney, Jonathan Turley. Jim Rybicki, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said he could not comment on a grand jury matter. The indictment alleges that al-Arian knowingly disobeyed a judge’s order to testify before the grand jury. Al-Arian has claimed that terms of his plea agreement exempt him from testifying, but two judges have rejected that claim.
Report: Anti-Americanism is fueled by perceived hypocrisy
(AFP) WASHINGTON — Anti-Americanism is at record levels thanks to US policies such as the war in Iraq, and Washington’s perceived hypocrisy in abiding by its own democratic values, U.S. lawmakers said last month. A House of Representatives committee report based on expert testimony and polling data reveals US approval ratings have fallen to record lows across the world since 2002, particularly in Muslim countries and Latin America. It says the problem arises not from a rejection of US culture, values and power but primarily from its policies, such as backing authoritarian regimes while promoting democracy, human rights and the rule of law. "Our physical strength has come to be seen not as a solace but as a threat, not as a guarantee of stability and order but as a source of intimidation, violence and torture," said Bill Delahunt, chairman of the subcommittee on international organizations, human rights and oversight. The report blames specific policies for falling approval ratings, notably the war in Iraq, support for some repressive governments, a perception of bias in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and the "torture and abuse of prisoners" in violation of treaty obligations. It says "disappointment and bitterness" has grown from the perception that much-vaunted US values "have been selectively ignored by successive administrations" for national security or economic ends. The committee also says unilateralism, particularly in military action, has led to "anger and a fear of attack that are transforming disagreements with U.S. policy into a broadening and deepening anti-Americanism." These factors, as well as visa and immigration issues, have helped create a "growing belief in the Islamic world that the United States is using the ‘war on terror’ as a cover for its attempts to destroy Islam," the report concludes. Muslim chaplain appointed at Duke
(InFocus News Staff) Durham, NC — Duke University has named Abdullah T. Antepli as the school’s first Muslim chaplain, a full-time position that will provide services ranging from pastoral care to teaching about Islam. Antepli, an imam, becomes one of only a handful of full-time Muslim chaplains at U.S. colleges and universities. "If Duke, alongside other leading Western institutions, is to become a hospitable environment for the formation of a new generation of international Muslim leadership of a broad-minded character, it has to take proactive steps to show the Muslim world here and abroad that it is open for business," said Duke Chapel Dean Sam Wells in a statement released by the school.
Antepli completed his basic imam training in his native Turkey. From 1996-2003. He is the founder and executive board member of the Muslim Chaplains Association and is a member of the National Association of College and University Chaplains.
Floods damage oldest mosque in U.S.
(By Saaqib Rangoonwala) CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Volunteer crews lent a hand on June 21 to clean up flood damage at the Mother Mosque of America. Numerous books and artifacts at the mosque, including photographs of American Muslim immigrants from the early 1900s, were destroyed when the Cedar River left its banks earlier in June. The Cedar Rapids center is the oldest mosque in the United States. It was completed in 1934 and was recently renovated. The Mother Mosque is listed on both the Iowa State Historical Register and the National Register of Historic Places as an "essential piece of American religious history, which symbolizes tolerance and acceptance of Islam and Muslims in the United States."
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