Sami Al-Arian, a University of South Florida professor who has spent the past five years in jail, has been released, pending trial on a contempt charge, the AP reports. Al-Arian was indicted in 2003 for having supported the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Prior to that, he was suspended from his faculty position and barred from campus for eighteen months, and given a "notice of intent to dismiss" without an opportunity for a hearing. The AAUP condemned the actions of the administration of the University of South Florida, finding them to be based on political issues apart from academic concerns.
Al-Arian was eventually acquitted of eight major criminal charges, and entered into a plea bargain with the government in which he pleaded guilty to one lesser charge and agreed to be deported after serving his sentence. However, he continued to be incarcerated while facing a string of contempt-of-court charges for his refusal to testify in other cases involving Muslim organizations. He argued that the terms of his plea agreement made him immune from having to do so. (9/3)