National Desk

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.

The New York Sun

SOUTH

CONVICTED TERRORIST FILES APPEAL AGAINST SENTENCE

Convicted terrorist Sami Al-Arian filed a notice of appeal yesterday against his 57-month prison sentence. As part of a plea deal, Al-Arian, a computer engineer who taught at the University of South Florida, Tampa, was sentenced on May 1 to the maximum allowed for his crime – helping associates of Palestinian Islamic Jihad with nonviolent activities. The plea deal carefully avoided him admitting any connection to violence.

In December, after a six-month trial, Al-Arian received 17 not-guilty verdicts for helping the PIJ. There were eight acquittals and nine deadlocked counts. The jury acquitted him of conspiring to further the violence of the PIJ.

But U.S. District Court Judge James S. Moody was unimpressed by the verdicts of innocence and made plain when sentencing Al-Arian that he was giving the former university teacher a maximum sentence because he had “created orphans and widows.”

The Minnesota law professor handling Al-Arian’s appeal, C. Peter Erlinder, told the Sun that he could not discuss the basis for the appeal, but added, “Those who were present in the courtroom heard the judge refer to a whole series of facts that actually had been rejected by the jury.” However, the plea agreement Al-Arian signed appears to preclude an appeal on those grounds. Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organization that has taken credit for hundreds of killings in Israel and the occupied territories.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WASHINGTON

SECRET SERVICE LOGS SHOW TWO ABRAMOFF VISITS TO WHITE HOUSE

Logs released by the Secret Service yesterday in response to a lawsuit show only two of the White House visits by a once-prominent lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to bribery-related offenses, Jack Abramoff.

The logs show Abramoff spent about half an hour at the White House complex on March 6, 2001, and about 45 minutes there on January 20, 2004. The released records do not indicate who arranged the visits or Abramoff’s destination in the building.

Abramoff is known to have visited the White House on at least three other occasions, including for Hanukah receptions in 2001 and 2002. A White House spokesman, Peter Watkins, said he had no information on why Abramoff made the visits disclosed yesterday. Other officials have said that the Secret Service’s records are not complete and may not include certain events attended by large numbers of people. A group that sued to obtain the records under the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch, said it was dissatisfied with the response and noted the logs do not contain many details found in similar access records disclosed during President Clinton’s administration.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use