Co-Defendant Of Al-Arian Is Sentenced

A co-defendant in the terrorism-related trial of a Florida college professor was sentenced in Chicago on Friday to an additional 14 months in prison for food-stamp fraud, according to press accounts.

Judge Milton Shadur ordered a 51-month sentence for Hatem Fariz, 33, who was already facing a 37-month term for assisting Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

While the former convenience store owner seemed to receive a more serious punishment for fraud than for an offense connected with a deadly terrorist group, Judge Shadur said the 51-month sentence was what Fariz would have received if the two cases had been handled together.

"I will serve my time quietly and productively, and I just want to get this behind me and go on with my life," Fariz said, according to the Associated Press.

Last year, a six-month trial of Fariz, the former professor, Sami Al-Arian, and two other men, resulted in an outcome disappointing to prosecutors. A Tampa, Fla., jury acquitted Fariz and Al-Arian of some charges, while failing to reach a verdict on others.

Earlier this year, Fariz and Al-Arian separately agreed to plead guilty to a single count of providing aid to a designated terrorist group.

In the Chicago case, Fariz was charged with making $1.4 million off a scheme which involved giving food stamp recipients a discounted amount of cash in exchange for credits on their electronic benefit cards. He has been ordered to repay the swindled money.

Prosecutors said in 1999 and 2000 that Fariz redeemed $1.6 million in credits while ringing up only $149,000 in eligible food sales.