Angry Letters to Congress

Dear Congressman/Congresswoman,

I know that you must receive countless letters by mail and e-mail from your constituents, and I do not know how I could claim that this one, above all others, might be most worthy of your attention, but I am nonetheless compelled to write to you because no one is better able to help than you.

A friend’s father, one Dr. Sami al-Arian, a professor and Muslim American citizen, has been held in prison past his release date and is now being tried for contempt of court for refusing to testify at a grand jury. To be clear, Dr. al-Arian landed in jail only after being found not guilty on the sixteen charges related to terrorism, financing terrorism, or terrorist connections. He was then told that federal prosecutors would re-try him indefinitely and faced with long and costly trials, he accepted a plea bargain whereby he pled guilty to one minor charge and was given five years jail time, after which he was to be deported. I’d like to put aside the polemics of that initial trial and plea bargain to get to my main point: the prosecutors made a legally-binding verbal promise to Dr. al-Arian while arranging the plea-bargain that he would not have to stand trial again. Nobody disputes the fact, and I have been told the prosecutors themselves will bear witness to the fact.

This last is a horrific perversion of what should be the best justice system in the world. I am proud to say I am American, but I cannot and will not abide by abominations perpetrated by my government’s judiciary against her own people. Dr. al-Arian has served the jail time proscribed for him—actually it expired some months ago. Please, do what you can, speak out, speak with people, anything to aid this poor man and his family. It is enough to break most people’s hearts that Dr. al-Arian’s children will follow him and his wife into exile far from the only home they’ve ever known, but for them to continue to be separated, without due cause, in fear and uncertainty over their father’s fate is more than unkind, it is cruel and it is unjust.

Dr. al-Arian’s plight is unacceptable, and leaves me to conclude one of two things. Either this is the kind of treatment that all American citizens can come to expect at the hands of their federal judiciary, so overzealous to chase down terrorists that it willfully makes a mockery of our fundamental rights. Or this is an example of unequal treatment in a country founded on and priding itself on the principle of equality. Whichever the case may be, it should be a matter of concern for all, and I pray that your intercession may hold some sway in the timely resolution of this awful situation.

Respectfully,

Brian J. Loo

Links to more information:

www.freesaminow.com

http://socialistworker.org/2008/07/02/feds-contempt-for-justice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_al-Arian