In his plea deal, what did Sami Al-Arian admit to?

More on the Rumpled Academic Mujahid from the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

...The plea agreement hinges upon an order issued by the Clinton administration in January 1995.

That executive order declared the PIJ a "specially designated terrorist" organization. It barred "making or receiving contributions, funds, goods or services" to benefit the PIJ, and outlawed actions designed to evade the ban.

In the plea agreement, Al-Arian admits conspiring to help people associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and covering up his knowledge of the PIJ associations by lying to Harper and others. He also admits that he had been associated with PIJ during "the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s."

For this guilty plea, Al-Arian, who has already spent three years in prison before and during his trial, will be deported, after possibly serving a prison sentence of several more months, to be determined by a federal judge May 1....

Al-Arian pleaded guilty to knowing that his brother-in-law Mazen Al-Najjar and two other colleagues, Bashir Nafi and Ramadan Shallah, were associated with the PIJ leadership and covering this up. He also admitted helping Nafi and Al-Najjar, after 1995, when it became illegal to do so because, according to evidence, they kept communicating with PIJ leaders.

And he says in the agreement that he knew of the group's violent acts.

Still waiting for those apologies from Kristof, Esposito, etc.

Posted by Robert at April 23, 2006 8:03 AM
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