JURIST - Paper Chase: Ex-professor to plead guilty to terror charge, be deported

[JURIST] Lawyers familiar with the case of former University of South Florida computer science professor Sami al-Arian [advocacy website; JURIST report] said Friday that the Kuwait-born Palestinian activist had agreed to a deal with federal prosecutors in which he would plead guilty to a lesser terrorism-related charge of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization and be deported from the United States. The deal comes after federal jurors acquitted al-Arian [JURIST report] late last year of eight of the 17 terrorism-related charges with which he had been accused and could not reach a unanimous verdict on the rest. The deal is still subject to the approval of a federal judge.

Al-Arian stood trial [JURIST report] in 2005 for 17 charges [charge sheet; JURIST report] relating to his alleged financing of terrorist activities in Israel. The outcome was a substantial blow to the federal government [JURIST report], which had heralded the trial as a win for the Patriot Act. AP has more. The Tampa Tribune has local coverage.

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