Al-Arian wins a round (finally), (sort of)
July 10, 2008 at 4:53 pm by Wayne GarciaIt doesn’t mean he will be walking the streets anytime soon, but Sami al-Arian is a bit closer to some justice and freedom after a court ruling today. This from former CAIR local executive director Ahmed Bedier:
JUDGE ORDERS DR. AL-ARIAN RELEASED ON BAIL PENDING TRIAL
By Attorney Johnathan TurleyIn a set back for the government, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was granted bail by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema today. Over the objections of the government and the pre-trial services, Judge Brinkema agreed that Dr. Al-Arian was not a flight risk and no danger to the community.
The government has suggested that it may now block release by having Immigration officials hold Dr. Al-Arian for deportation – despite the fact that it is trying to hold him for years under a criminal sentence rather than deport him.
SOURCE CLICK HERE
http://jonathanturley.org/2008/07/09/dr-sami-al-arian-files-motion-for-bail/============
AL-ARIAN IN DEPORTATION HOLD AFTER RELEASE FOR CONTEMPT
By JOSH GERSTEIN, Sun | July 10, 2008
A federal judge is ordering a prominent Palestinian Arab activist, Sami Al-Arian, released pending a trial on criminal contempt charges, but she has refused to block immigration authorities from detaining Al-Arian as a prelude to his deportation.
The upshot of the ruling from Judge Leonie Brinkema at a bail hearing at Alexandria, Va. this morning seemed to be that Al-Arian will stay behind bars, at least for now. However, the decision puts the government in the odd posture of detaining a man for a deportation authorities have no immediate intention of carrying out.“It was a very good day,” one of Al-Arian’s lawyers, Jonathan Turley, said in a brief telephone interview after the court session. “She agreed with us that he’s not a flight risk and not a danger to the community, that that was not a barrier to bail.”
Mr. Turley said Judge Brinkema also said she was picking up “strange signals” from the case and she warned the government that it should not be using the contempt charges to delay Al-Arian’s deportation.The prosecutor at today’s hearing, Gordon Kromberg, declined to comment for this article.
FULL ARTICLE HEREhttp://www.nysun.com/national/al-arian-in-deportation-hold-after-release/81624/
