MVPJ is sending the following letter to Judge Gerald Lee in the hopes that Dr. Sami Al-Arian will get fair treatment from our court system. He is currently on a hunger strike.

For context on Dr. Al-Arian's story, here are a few articles currently on the web about his case:

[http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2002/01/19/bubba/index.html; Salon.com story]

[http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/032408Lendman.shtml; Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinal]

[http://www2.tbo.com/static/special_reports_news/tbo-special-report-sami-al-arian/; Tampa Bay Online]

[http://www.adl.org/Terror/terrorism_al-arian.asp; Anti-Defamation League story]

[http://www.freesamialarian.com;Free Sami Al-Arian Web Site]

MVPJ LETTER TO JUDGE GERALD LEE

April 2, 2008

Judge Gerald Lee
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
401 Courthouse Square
Alexandria, VA 22314

Dear Judge Lee,

Our organization represents over 36 different faith traditions and congregations in the Bay Area of California. Since September 11th we have seen many people ensnared in a nightmare of wildly inflammatory charges involving the word terrorism, followed by long incarceration without trial, sometimes resulting in the person caught in the trap agreeing to some plea bargain in order to escape the nightmare and be deported. Despite highly inflated claims by the Justice Department that they had captured high-level terrorists, most of these cases have dissolved into nothingness, leaving destroyed lives in their wake.

Reading about Dr. Sami Al-Arian we see many of the typical injustices which we as Americans find intolerable. While grateful that he, unlike others languishing in prisons, was given the opportunity to be tried by a jury, we are saddened that after his acquittal on the most serious charges and a deadlocked jury on the others, he remains in jail.

We are a nation of laws and as citizens we count on the co-equal branches of government to provide checks and balances when one or more of those branches is behaving inappropriately. We are asking you to review this case thoroughly and if you agree with the jury that Dr. Al-Arian has committed no crime, and that the Justice Department has provided no justifiable reason to continue his detainment, that you order his release so that he may leave this country and resume some type of free life.

Respectfully,

Craig L. Wiesner
(on behalf of the steering committee of Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice)