This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7606

Terrorist Sami Al-Arian Holds "International Muslim Ummah Conference" In Turkey - Head Of PIJ In US Deported There In 2015

Georgetown University "Professors" Speak At Event - Al Arian Orchestrated Suicide Bombings While Prof At USF
October 9, 2017

"...On February 28, 2006, Al-Arian signed a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to "make or receive funds ... for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad." He was sentenced to 57 months in prison, (which included 38 months that he had already served). The judge who sentenced Al-Arian made reference to PIJ suicide bombings and told the defendant: "Anyone with even the slightest bit of human compassion would be sickened. Not you, you saw it as an opportunity to solicit more money to carry out more bombings." Vis a vis Al-Arian's claim that he had raised money for charities, the judge said: "Your only connection to widows and orphans was that you create them."

"International Conference on The Muslim Ummah" feat. @JohnLEsposito &@JonathanACBrown buff.ly/2xYbHQN pic.twitter.com/b5pPB7x2sP 9:00 AM - 7 Oct 2017 Twitter By: ACMCU @ACMCU

Conference Program


Sunday, October 8, 2017


4:30-5:00 PM Plenary Session IZU ISEFAM Auditorium


Chair: Dr. Mohammed Moussa, IZU Introductory Remarks:

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bulut, Rector, IZU Dr. Emad Shahin, Dean, College of Islamic Sciences, HBK University, Doha, Qatar Dr. Jonathan Brown, Director, ACMCU, Georgetown University, Wash. DC

5:00-6:50 PM Session I: The Muslim Ummah: Re-examining the Concept and Developing a New Paradigm IZU ISEFAM Auditorium


Chair & Discussant: Dr. Sohaira Siddiqui, Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar Speakers:

Understanding the Historical Concept of the Muslim Ummah Dr. Selim Argun, Istanbul University Evaluating the Current State of the Muslim Ummah Dr. Arif Ersoy, IZU A New Paradigm for the Ummah at the Epistemological Level Dr. Hussein ElKazzaz, Insan Center for Civilizational Studies, Istanbul

Monday, October 9, 2017


9:30-11:20 AM Session II: Political Legitimacy in the Muslim World IZU ISEFAM Auditorium

Chair & Discussant: Dr. Ismail Numan Telci, Sakarya University Speakers:

Understanding the Historical Model for Political Legitimacy in the Muslim World Dr. Ovamir Anjum, University of Toledo Current State of Affairs and Models across the Muslim World Dr. Dalia Fahmy, Long Island University Developing Main Features for Political Legitimacy Dr. Emad Shahin, Dean, College of Islamic Studies, HBK University

11:20-11:50 AM Break

11:50-1:50 PM Session III: Global Challenges to the Muslim World IZU ISEFAM Auditorium

Chair: Jamal ElShayyal, Al Jazeera English Speakers:

The Challenge of Hegemony Dr. Richard Falk, University of California- Santa Barbara The Challenge of Wars and Terrorism Dr. Flynt Leverett, Penn State University The Challenge of Islamophobia Dr. John Esposito, Georgetown University The Challenge of Settler Colonialism in Palestine/Israel Dr. Sami Al-Arian, IZU

1:50-3:00 PM Lunch

3:10-5:00 PM Session IV: Re-defining the Role of Islamic Law in the Modern World IZU ISEFAM Auditorium

Chair & Discussant: Dr. Abbas Barzegar, Georgia State University Speakers:

Understanding the Historical Model of Muslim Societies Under Islamic Law Dr. Jonathan A Brown, Georgetown University Is the Modern State Compatible with the Historical Model of the Islamic State? Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes, University of Wisconsin Developing a New Model for the Coexistence of Modern State with Islamic Law Dr. Tariq Ramadan, Oxford University and College of Islamic Studies, HBK University

Tuesday, October 10, 2017


9:30-11:30 AM Session V: Socioeconomic Challenges in the Muslim World IZU ISEFAM Auditorium

Chair & Discussant: Dr. Abd Al-Fattah El-Awaisi, IZU Speakers:

Dealing with Social Justice, Poverty and Productivity in Muslim Societies Dr. Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Şehir University Globalization and Economic Development in the Islamic World Dr. Mehmet Bulut, IZU The Challenges of the Empowerment of Women and Youth in Muslim Societies Dr. Ömer Çaha, IZU Dr. Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University

11:30-12:00 PM Break

12:00-2:00 PM Session VI: Understanding Fault Lines within the Muslim Ummah IZU ISEFAM Auditorium

Chair & Discussant: Dr. Ömer Taşgetiren, IZU Speakers:

The Challenge of Sectarianism: The Future of Sunni-Shi'a Relations Dr. Nader Hashemi, University of Denver The Challenge of the Ideological Divide: Secular vs. Religious Dr. Heba Raouf Ezzat, Ibn Khaldoun University The Challenge of Nationalism Dr. Abdullah Al-Arian, Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar The Challenge of Military-Civilian Relations Dr. Abdelfattah Mady, Alexandria University

2:00-3:15 PM Lunch

5:00-7:00 PM Closing Session: The Muslim Ummah in Today's World Yahya Kemal Beyatlı Convention Center, Küçükçekmece

Chair: Dr. Sami Al-Arian, Center for Islam and Global Affairs, IZU

I. The Meaning of the Muslim Ummah in the Modern World Dr. Tariq Ramadan, Oxford University and College of Islamic Studies, HBK University II. The Muslim Ummah: Challenges and Response Dr. Ibrahim Kalin, Spokesperson and Senior Advisor to President of Turkey III. Towards Defining a New Relationship between the Islamic World and Global Powers Dr. John Esposito, Georgetown University

https://www.izu.edu.tr/en-US/ciga/program/2791/Page.aspx?utm_content=buffer73528&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Excerpt from article in Daily Sabah about the conference.

"...Before explaining why al-Arian had to leave the U.S., it is important to mention his new academic works in Turkey. Even though al-Arian was dismissed from his tenure position as a university professor in the U.S., his never-ending commitment to the betterment of the Islamic world has gained new momentum in Turkey recently, as he is now the director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) as well as a public affairs professor at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (İZU). "To conduct high quality research and analysis, educate the public and policymakers, train experts and propose novel ideas and policy recommendations regarding global policies and relations impacting the Islamic world and the development and progress of Muslim societies," are among the objectives of the CIGA. The organization will host a three-day conference from Oct. 8 to Oct. 10 at the İZU ISEFAM Auditorium and Yahya Kemal Beyatlı Convention Center in Küçükçekmece that will bring a series of noted scholars and academics from around the world together. For more information about this event visit: https://www.izu.edu.tr/en-US/ ciga.


"... His aim in Turkey with the CIGA is "to look closely at historical concepts that no longer operate in the same way they did centuries ago." As a result, a range of scholars, including Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University; Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University; John L. Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University; and İbrahim Kalın, presidential spokesman and senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are among participants of the conference, "International Conference on the Muslim Ummah." In a bid to present "practical solutions to the many problems that the Muslim world is facing today," the conference will include six sessions, concluding with the discussion "The Muslim Ummah in Today's World." The topics to be discussed will cover a wide spectrum, including "Political Legitimacy in the Muslim World," "Global Challenges to the Muslim World," "Redefining the Role of Islamic Law in the Modern World," "Socioeconomic Challenges in the Muslim World" and "Understanding Fault Lines within the Muslim Ummah."

https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2017/10/07/scholar-with-a-purpose-al-arian-brings-muslim-world-into-spotlight-at-istanbul-conference

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MIM: Sami Al-Arian's terrorist history from "Discover The Networks"

Sami Al- Arian

Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents on January 14, 1958, Sami Al-Arian was educated in Egypt and then came to the United States in 1975. Three years later he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical sciences and engineering from Southern Illinois University. He thereafter earned advanced degrees in computer engineering at North Carolina State University -- a master's degree in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1985. As of 1981, he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1986 he was hired as a professor of computer science by the University of South Florida (USF), where he eventually earned tenure.

As an academic, Al-Arian has published more than forty articles in his field of study. He is also a civil liberties activist who has been a key player in various Islamic-interest organizations, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Muslim Alliance, the American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Academy of Florida (which he once chaired), and the Islamic Society of North America (which he co-founded). In 1991 he co-founded (with Ramadan Abdullah Shallah and Khalil Shikaki) the World Islam Study Enterprise (WISE).

In 1997 Al-Arian created the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF) in an effort to challenge the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996, which was the predecessor to the Patriot Act of 2001. Pursuant to the Anti-Terrorism Act, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (a.k.a. PIJ, or simply Islamic Jihad) had been declared a terrorist organization; "material support" for terrorist organizations had been made explicitly illegal; the government's use of secret evidence in terrorist cases had been authorized; and Professor Al-Arian's brother-in-law Mazen al-Najjar had been arrested and incarcerated for his terrorist connections. Other key members of Al-Arian's anti-Patriot Act coalition included the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the National Lawyers Guild. CCR's lead spokesman in the coalition was David Cole, Professor of Law at Georgetown University and the lawyer for Mazen al-Najjar.

Al-Arian himself had been the subject of an FBI investigation since 1996. He had long been publicly identified as a terrorist by close observers of the Islamic Jihad movement, including reporters for the Miami Herald and Investigative Project director Steven Emerson.

In his book American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us, Emerson gives evidence of how, at USF, Al-Arian founded and headed various terrorist fronts that operated as "the American arm of Islamic Jihad," and how Al-Arian damned the United States and Israel rhetorically while raising funds for terrorism overseas.

Emerson also had surreptitiously videotaped Al-Arian at a rally exhorting attendees, in English, to donate $500 so that a Palestinian terrorist could be financed to kill an Israeli Jew. Former U.S. attorney John Loftus, meanwhile, had obtained videotapes of Al-Arian exhorting murder in Arabic, and Loftus initiated a lawsuit to pressure the U.S. government to prosecute Al-Arian for complicity in international terrorism. The government was slow to act, however, partially because of Saudi pressure.

But on September 26, 2001, Al-Arian appeared on Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor. The host confronted Al-Arian with his videotaped calls for terrorist jihad and declared, "If I was the CIA, I'd follow you wherever you went." The ensuing public uproar produced enough embarrassment to USF officials that they finally suspended Al-Arian from his professorship, with pay, on December 19, 2001.

Al-Arian responded to the suspension by adopting the posture of a victim: "I'm a minority," he said. "I'm an Arab. I'm a Palestinian. I'm a Muslim. That's not a popular thing to be these days. Do I have rights, or don't I have rights?"

The American Left sprang to Al-Arian's defense. Their efforts included articles in The Nation and Salon.com, whose reporter Eric Boehlert lamented "The Prime Time Smearing of Sami Al-Arian." The head of Georgetown's Middle East Studies program, Professor John Esposito, expressed concern that Al-Arian not be made a "victim of … anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry." And Professor Ellen Schrecker characterized Al-Arian's suspension as an example of "political repression."

Others who joined the Al-Arian defense chorus included the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the USF faculty union, and the American Association of University Professors, the latter of which threatened to challenge USF's accreditation on grounds that the school had "violated" Al-Arian's "academic freedom." Meanwhile, faculty at Duke University invited Al-Arian to be the featured speaker at an academic symposium on "National Security and Civil Liberties."

In its investigation of Al-Arian, the FBI raided WISE headquarters and seized some 500 videotapes of conferences in which Al-Arian had participated, where funds had been raised to aid terrorism efforts overseas. One FBI surveillance video of Al-Arian's fundraising tour of American mosques showed him being introduced as "the President of the Islamic Committee for Palestine … the active arm of the Islamic Jihad movement." In addition to others in the video who praised the killing of Jews and Christians, Al-Arian declaimed, "God cursed those who are the sons of Israel ... Those people, God made monkeys and pigs ... Let us damn America, let us damn Israel, let us damn them and their allies until death." In another videotaped speech, Al-Arian said: "We assemble today to pay respects to the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish, from butchery to butchery, and from martyrdom to martyrdom, from jihad to jihad."

The FBI further learned that Al-Arian had connections to the blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack in 1993; to Hamas official Mohammed Sakr; to the high-ranking Sudanese terrorist Hassan Turbai; and to Islamic Jihad co-founder Abdel Aziz-Odeh.

In February 2003 a federal grand jury handed down a 50-count indictment against Al-Arian and six others in Tampa, Florida who were believed to be fellow leaders of PIJ.

In Al-Arian's 2005 trial (which began in June and went on for 5 months), his attorney conceded that the client was an operative for PIJ. A reporter covering the trial summarized: "The trial exposed the professor as having been deeply enmeshed in the internal workings of Palestinian Islamic Jihad …" On December 6, 2005, Al-Arian was acquitted on eight of the seventeen counts against him, including "conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad," which was the most serious charge. The remaining nine counts ended in what was considered a mistrial, as the jury was deadlocked on them.

On February 28, 2006, Al-Arian signed a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to "make or receive funds ... for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad." He was sentenced to 57 months in prison, (which included 38 months that he had already served). The judge who sentenced Al-Arian made reference to PIJ suicide bombings and told the defendant: "Anyone with even the slightest bit of human compassion would be sickened. Not you, you saw it as an opportunity to solicit more money to carry out more bombings." Vis a vis Al-Arian's claim that he had raised money for charities, the judge said: "Your only connection to widows and orphans was that you create them."

In June 2008, Al-Arian was indicted for criminal contempt after he repeatedly refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating terror financing in northern Virginia. Al-Arian argued that his 2006 guilty plea contained an agreement absolving him of any future obligations to provide information to the government, either voluntarily or as a result of a court order. But Al-Arian's claim was rejected by the judge who had sentenced him in Tampa, by another judge in Alexandria, and by their respective circuit courts of appeal. Moreover, Al-Arian's attorneys have never produced any written evidence supporting their client's claim.

In April 2012, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) reported: "The case has been frozen in limbo ... by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's refusal to rule on defense motions to dismiss the contempt case despite repeated promises to deliver a written order as far back as the spring of 2009."

Also in April 2012, Al-Arian issued a statement "on behalf of all victims of injustice," in which he named a number of "innocent" Muslims who had been "targeted ... because of their beliefs, opinions, associations, and advocacy":

"Today Ali Al-Tamimi is serving life for giving a religious fatwa. Tarek Mehanna is serving 17 years for translating a document. Mufid Abdel Kader is serving 20 years because he had a beautiful voice and sang for Palestine. Ghassan El-Ashi and Shukri Abu Baker are serving 65 years each for feeding and clothing hungry Palestinian children ... Aafi (sic) Siddqui was sentenced to 86 years after she was shot and nearly died."

In response to Al-Arian's statement, IPT set the record straight:

"Al-Tamimi's fatwa urged followers to wage war against American troops and help the Taliban. Mehanna was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. Abdel Kader, Elashi and Baker each were convicted for their work with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which illegally routed more than $12 million to Hamas before being shut down in 2001. Aafia Siddiqui was apprehended in Afghanistan in possession of plans for a 'mass casualty attack' in the United States, including a list of New York City landmarks. Prosecutors say she grabbed an Army officer's M-4 rifle and fired it at another officer and other members of a U.S. interview team at an Afghan police compound in July 2008."

In early December 2013, Al-Arian attended a Washington, DC event hosted by the Egypt Freedom Foundation, a recently formed group advocating for the restoration of Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Egypt.

In February 2015, Al-Arian was deported from the U.S. to Turkey.


http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=671

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Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2006

WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRM (202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

Sami Al-Arian Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Provide Services To Palestinian Islamic Jihad

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a specially designated terrorist organization, in violation of U.S. law, the Department of Justice announced today.

In a closed proceeding before a federal magistrate at U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida last week, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to Count Four of the indictment against him – a charge of conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The plea hearing was closed over the objections of the government and unsealed today. The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Court Judge James S. Moody, Jr. this afternoon. Sentencing was scheduled for May 1, 2006.

Al-Arian's agreement with the government calls for a recommended prison sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison, based on a five-year maximum statutory sentence. Al-Arian, 48, who has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 20, 2003, has agreed to stipulate to deportation to another country by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement once his prison sentence has ended. Al-Arian has lived in this country for approximately 30 years.

"We have a responsibility not to allow our Nation to be a safe haven for those who provide assistance to the activity of terrorists," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. "Sami Al-Arian has already spent significant time behind bars and will now lose the right to live in the country he calls home as a result of his confessed criminal conduct on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is the same conduct he steadfastly denied in public statements over the last decade."

"The United States stands committed to bringing terrorists and their supporters to justice," said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division. "Al-Arian has now admitted providing assistance to help the Palestinian Islamic Jihad—a specially designated terrorist organization with deadly goals—as the government has alleged from the start."

"This conviction is the result of years of exhaustive investigative and prosecutorial work, during which the government utilized the many tools we have available to us in the ongoing war against terrorism," said U.S. Attorney Paul I. Perez of the Middle District of Florida. "Because of the painstaking work of the prosecutors and agents who pursued this case, Al-Arian has now confessed to helping terrorists do their work from his base here in the United States – a base he is no longer able to maintain."

In the plea agreement, Al-Arian admits that he was associated with several organizations, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. He also admits that co-defendants Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, Bashir Musa Mohammed Nafi and Mazen Al-Najjar were associated with PIJ. President Clinton issued an executive order in January 1995 which banned certain transactions with organizations and individuals who were "specially designated terrorists," including PIJ, Sheik Abd Al Aziz Awda and Fathi Shiqaqi and later, Ramadan Shallah.

Al-Arian admits that he performed services for the PIJ in 1995 and thereafter, when he was a professor at the University of South Florida and after he knew that the PIJ had been designated by President Clinton as a terrorist organization. Al-Arian also acknowledges in the plea agreement that he knew the PIJ used acts of violence as a means to achieve its objectives. Nevertheless, Al-Arian continued to assist the terrorist organization, for instance, by filing official paperwork to obtain immigration benefits for PIJ associate Bashir Nafi, and concealing the terrorist associations of various individuals associated with the PIJ. He further admits to assisting PIJ associate Mazen al-Najjar in a federal court proceeding, a proceeding in which al-Najjar and Nafi both falsely claimed under oath that they were not associated with the PIJ. Moreover, Al-Arian acknowledges that in late 1995, when Ramadan Shallah, co-conspirator and former director of Al-Arian's "think tank," the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE) was named as the new Secretary General of the PIJ, Al-Arian falsely denied to the media that he knew of Shallah's association with PIJ.

Al-Arian was arrested by the FBI on Feb. 20, 2003 following the return of an indictment by a federal grand jury in Tampa, charging him and several co-defendants. Al-Arian was acquitted of eight of the 18 counts against him following a six-month trial on Dec. 6, 2005, but the jury deadlocked on three of the four most serious conspiracy charges against him, including the charge of conspiracy to provide services to the PIJ.

This case was prosecuted by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Zitek and Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter Furr of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Middle District of Florida, and Trial Attorneys Cherie Krigsman and Alexis Collins of the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. The investigation was conducted by a Task Force led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service and state and local law enforcement officials, among others.

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06-221

https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2006/April/06_crm_221.html

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7606