zimv20
Dec 9, 2003, 02:58 AM
link (http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7446049.htm)
BY GENEIVE ABDO
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO - (KRT) - A federal magistrate has disclosed that documents that could be critical in the government's prosecution of a Palestinian charged as an Islamic militant in the United States have been destroyed, potentially undermining the ability of the Bush administration to prosecute a case that it has called a victory in its war on terrorism.
Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, is in jail on charges of funneling money and support from Chicago and Florida to the radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.
U.S. Magistrate Thomas McCoun III said in a letter to Al-Arian's lawyers that search warrants used in 1995 in his case were shredded by mistake, casting doubt on the admissibility of some government evidence. Investigators used the warrants to raid Al-Arian's home, his university office and a think tank with which he was associated.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, when the Justice Department increased its investigation and prosecutions of terrorist-related cases, many have run into trouble. Investigators have referred about 6,400 people for alleged terror-related crimes since Sept. 11, but fewer than one-third were charged, according to a study released this week by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The median prison sentence was 14 days, and only five people were sentenced to 20 years or more, according to the study.
Critics of the Bush administration's war against terrorism cited this study and similar statistics to question whether the U.S. government has been exaggerating the success of its anti-terrorism campaign and the threat inside the United States.
BY GENEIVE ABDO
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO - (KRT) - A federal magistrate has disclosed that documents that could be critical in the government's prosecution of a Palestinian charged as an Islamic militant in the United States have been destroyed, potentially undermining the ability of the Bush administration to prosecute a case that it has called a victory in its war on terrorism.
Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, is in jail on charges of funneling money and support from Chicago and Florida to the radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.
U.S. Magistrate Thomas McCoun III said in a letter to Al-Arian's lawyers that search warrants used in 1995 in his case were shredded by mistake, casting doubt on the admissibility of some government evidence. Investigators used the warrants to raid Al-Arian's home, his university office and a think tank with which he was associated.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, when the Justice Department increased its investigation and prosecutions of terrorist-related cases, many have run into trouble. Investigators have referred about 6,400 people for alleged terror-related crimes since Sept. 11, but fewer than one-third were charged, according to a study released this week by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The median prison sentence was 14 days, and only five people were sentenced to 20 years or more, according to the study.
Critics of the Bush administration's war against terrorism cited this study and similar statistics to question whether the U.S. government has been exaggerating the success of its anti-terrorism campaign and the threat inside the United States.
