The jurors in the Sami Al-Arian terrorism trial are deliberating. The judge denied a mistrial motion.
The reason for the mistrial?
The motion by lawyers for AlArian and three co-defendants stemmed from jurors inadvertently seeing the results of a reader’s poll printed in the Tampa Tribune Nov. 17. The poll showed that 87 percent of the readers who responded thought the jury would convict Al-Arian of being a key figure in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
I know nothing about the law, so I will offer no opinion, other than that I’m glad the deliberating continues. And gladder still about the results of that poll. Hope they’re prophetic.
If you haven’t been following this case, the defense offered no defense. Their strategy was that the government did not build its case, and that Al-Arian was being pilloried for what is a matter of free speech. Well, yeah, leading chants of “Death to Israel” definitely falls under the rubric of hate speech. Unfortunately, raising funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad falls under the rubric of, er, terrorism.
Rot in jail, Sami. Those are my wishes for you.
My wish is that he’s forced to stand trial in Houston and the vehicle taking him to the courthouse takes an illegal left turn across the Dangertain tracks, but this is the season for wishes not to come true.
I am praying here for a conviction. If that happens, Laurence, maybe you can accept this likely possibility as a substitute for your hit-by-train scenario: Most of the new perimeter fence sensor technology used at the type of federal prison Al-Arian should end up in are developed and licensed by an Israeli company.
Now that I think about it, I will remember to send Sami The Terrorist a nice note telling him to have a look out his slit of a cell window and admire the fence.