Now this is odd: the Rumpled Academic is resting his entire defense on freedom of speech: “The government has not proven Dr. Al-Arian has done anything but speak.” Sure. All he did was speak: speak to call for death to America and death to Israel. Speak to bring Ramadan Shallah, who is now head of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, to Florida. Speak — above all — to raise money to provide for more murderers of Israeli civilians. “Fired professor presents no defense in terrorism-support trial,” from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
After hearing from government witnesses for nearly five months, an attorney for a fired college professor charged with aiding Palestinian terrorists rested his case Thursday without calling a single witness.
After summoning more than 70 witnesses, federal prosecutors rested their case earlier Thursday morning against Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants accused of raising money and supporting the murderous mission of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or PIJ.
Al-Arian’s attorney, William Moffitt, stunned most in the courtroom when he told U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. that he also would rest. Attorneys for Al-Arian’s three co-defendants began presenting their cases, which could take weeks more.
When asked about the decision, Moffitt would say only that Al-Arian has done nothing wrong and the U.S. Constitution protects his right to speak.
“The government has not proven Dr. Al-Arian has done anything but speak,” Moffitt said….
Prosecutors built their case around hundreds of pages of transcripts of wiretapped phone calls and faxes they say proves that the defendants raised money to fund the cycle of suicide bombings that killed hundreds.
The conversations and correspondence, intercepted by the FBI from the mid-1990s to about 2003, have included discussions about the direction and financing of the PIJ. Other times, the participants appear to celebrate suicide attacks that killed Israelis and speak glowingly of the Palestinian “martyrs” who carried them out.