Al-Arian Freed From Jail Pending Trial
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
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.
