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Palestinian Professor in Florida Released, Deported: Lawyers
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Mazen al-Najjar was deported Thursday from the U.S. to an undisclosed Middle Eastern country
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TAMPA,
Florida, August 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S.
authorities released and deported Florida-based Palestinian professor
Mazen al-Najjar. He had been held without charges for much of the past
five years on secret evidence, which the government said linked him to
terrorism, according to his lawyers Thursday, August 22, 2002.
Earlier
in the week, authorities said al-Najjar had been issued travel papers
for an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
said.
His
lawyers said he was released and deported Thursday, but did not
immediately give further details.
Al-Najjar,
not formally charged with any crime, was first arrested by the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in May 1997. He was
released in December 2000, but was arrested again in November 2001.
Al-Najjar
and his brother-in-law Sami al-Arian, who both taught at the
University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, have been under
investigation for years, suspected of links with the Palestinian
Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which figures on the U.S. list of international
terrorist organizations.
Al-Arian
Thursday denied claims that he raised funds for terrorists, and made
it clear he would fight a decision by the USF to fire him.
"There
is no evidence that they can show that I ever fund raised" for
the PIJ, he said at a news conference, after university authorities
announced they were seeking court clearance to fire the computer
science professor.
Al-Arian,
suspended for almost a year, made it clear he would fight for his
reinstatement and to clear his name.
Al-Arian
has not been charged with any crime, but a federal investigation is
seeking to determine whether the USF-based World and Islamic Studies
Enterprise (WISE) think-tank he founded, fueled funds to the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
USF
President Judy Genshaft announced Wednesday, August 21, that the
university asked a judge to rule whether firing al-Arian would violate
his constitutional right to free speech.
Al-Arian
said Thursday he would try to have the suit moved from state to
federal court and then file a motion to have the matter dropped.
"Do
I have rights or do I not have rights ? It would appear right now that
I don't have any rights?," he said.
"I'm
a minority . . . I'm a Palestinian. That's not a popular thing to be
these days," said al-Arian, flanked by family and attorneys.
Another
professor who taught at the university in the 1990s, Ramadan Abdullah
Shallah, later became the head of the PIJ, AFP said.
Shallah
was an adjunct professor for two terms at the university and worked as
administrative director of WISE.
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