page_title: Sami Al-Arian indictments and trial
section_title: Guilty plea, pursuant to plea agreement
hierarchical_section_title: Sami Al-Arian indictments and trial / Guilty plea, pursuant to plea agreement
caption_attribution_description: United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - official Department of Justice photograph
context_page_description: Sami Al-Arian indictments and trial began on February 20, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Al-Arian had been arrested as the alleged leader of the Palestine Islamic Jihad in the U.S., and Secretary of the PIJ's central worldwide governing group. It also charged three others living in the U.S., as well as four outside the U.S. These included Al-Arian's long-time top USF/WISE associate Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, who had been designated a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S. in 1995, and was accused of being Secretary General of the PIJ.
  The PIJ was identified as an international terrorist organization, with cells throughout the world, that supports jihad and martyrdom, responsible for the deaths of among others Americans Alisa Flatow and Shoshana Ben-Yishai. In 1995 the PIJ, Syrian-based and largely financed by Iran, had been designated a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S., and in 1997 it had been designated a "foreign terrorist organization".
context_section_description: On February 28, 2006, Al-Arian signed a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to contribute services to or for the benefit of the PIJ, a Specially Designated Terrorist organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.  In return, the U.S. Attorney: a) agreed to dismiss the other eight remaining charges in the superseding indictment; b) agreed not to charge Al-Arian with any other crimes known to the government at the time of the execution of the agreement; c) agreed not to enter any recommendation as to the imposition or amount of a fine; d) agreed with Al-Arian that an appropriate sentence would be 46–57 months in prison; and e) covenanted that if no adverse information were received suggesting such a recommendation to be unwarranted, the U.S. would recommend that Al-Arian receive a sentence "at the low end of the applicable guideline range, as calculated by the Court".
  In the agreement, Al-Arian said that he was pleading guilty because he was "in fact" guilty.  Al-Arian admitted knowing "that the PIJ achieved its objectives by, among other means, acts of violence."  As part of the deal, Al-Arian agreed to be deported once his prison sentence ended.
  The plea agreement provided that it was "limited to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida and the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice, and cannot bind other federal, state, or local prosecuting authorities."  It also provided that it "constitutes the entire agreement between the government and [Al-Arian] ... and no other promises, agreements, or representations exist or have been made to [Al-Arian]".
  Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said:
  We have a responsibility not to allow our nation to become a safe haven for those who provide assistance to ... terrorists.  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 [PIJ], which is the same conduct he steadfastly denied in public statements over the past decade.
  At the plea agreement hearing, U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun said, " if you're satisfied you're guilty or you believe it's in your best interest to plead guilty ... let me know that." Al-Arian replied, "I believe it's in my best interest to enter a plea."
  The district court judge asked Al-Arian whether he had been promised anything else by anyone to induce his guilty plea, and he said that he had not.  The plea agreement was unsealed and accepted by Judge James S. Moody on April 17, 2006.  The count carried a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.  Al-Arian remained in custody pending his sentencing and deportation.
  The deal came after 11 years of Federal Bureau of Investigation investigations, wiretaps and searches, and three and a half years of trial preparation, time Al-Arian spent in jail, most of it in solitary confinement.  Amnesty International said Al-Arian's pre-trial detention conditions "appeared to be 'gratuitously punitive'", and that "the restrictions imposed on Dr. Al-Arian appeared to go beyond what were necessary on security grounds and were inconsistent with international standards for humane treatment.".
  Supporters of Al-Arian said the agreement was reached in part to end his family's suffering and to reunite them.
  On July 25, 2006, Fariz pleaded guilty to one count of providing nonviolent services to associates of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison. He was released on May 26, 2010.
caption: Attorney General
  Alberto Gonzales
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