Protesters rally for NCSU alumnus

About 100 protesters, some of whom were students from N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill rallied against the government's indefinite imprisonment of a Palestinian NCSU alumnus, Sami Al-Arian, in Butner on Saturday.

Al-Arian, who obtained his master's and doctoral degrees from NCSU in the 1980s, was a computer science professor at the University of South Florida when he was accused of aiding a Palestinian organization that the government has listed as a "terrorist" organization.

He was acquitted of eight of his charges in Dec. 2005 and pleaded guilty to the rest, where the agreement stated he would serve an 18-month imprisonment and be deported afterwards.

But, the U.S. government had other plans. After the agreement, Al-Arian was asked to testify against Islamic charities in Virginia and when he refused because he said it was not part of the agreement and he could add nothing to the case, his sentence was extended indefinitely though it was supposed to end in April.

To rebel against this decision, the diabetic Al-Arian began a 60-day hunger strike.

"It's really hard to express how I feel now," Nahla Al-Arian, Sami's wife who was at the protest with two of her children, said. "I feel I am strong now because there are a lot of people supporting us in this struggle. They are really fighting for us."

After Al-Arian began his hunger strike, he became so weak that he was transferred to the federal medical facility in Butner. His family came to visit him and convinced him to end his hunger strike. But according to Nahla, he is so weak, it is even difficult for him to take the liquid nutrients he is starting, and he remains in Butner since his appeal was denied.

Liya Yu, a graduate student in electrical engineering, was one of the student protesters at the demonstration. She said the protest for Al-Arian was the first she's participated in.

"It's the right thing to do," she said. "The reason is important."

According to Khalilah Sabra, director of Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation and one of the event's organizers, if the injustice committed against Al-Arian can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

"If the constitution can be diluted or eradicated because of one agenda, then it subjects one individual to the objectives of that administration," she said. "Until Sami Al-Arian is free, in a sense, all of us are captive to the reasoning of a government that is clearly out of control."

Nahla said protests like Saturday's make her family see its struggle as a part of a larger struggle.

Hala Borno, a student with Solidarity with Palestine through Education and Action at UNC-Chapel Hill, said her group was there to "call out against this injustice."

"He's a scholar, not a terrorist," Borno said. "He's done nothing wrong and he's being imprisoned and brutally treated when they have no evidence."

According to Dante Strobino, a graduate student in electrical engineering and member of Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Al-Arian's struggle represents a lot about our "justice system."

"He was completely acquitted of the charges, but the judge completely blocked that out," he said.

Strobino said for cases like Al-Arian's, other than the progressive media outlets, they don't receive much national media coverage.

"It's important that we're here to expose that," he said. "Every protest helps build a movement. Every demonstration helps build unity and unity is how we [influence] the system."

Protesters rallied on Interstate-85 for two hours Saturday, holding such signs that read, "Freedom over fear" and "Justice for all."