Al-Arian Freed From Jail Pending Trial

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former Florida professor once accused of being a leading Palestinian Arab terrorist has been released for the first time in more than five years.

Immigration authorities released Sami Al-Arian today. They were holding him for refusing to testify before a grand jury about a cluster of Muslim organizations in northern Virginia.

The former University of South Florida professor has been in immigration custody since finishing a sentence on separate charges. He had been accused of being a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but he was acquitted on many of those charges and a jury deadlocked on others. He eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Prosecutors opposed his release. He will be in home detention while he awaits trial.