From News.Yahoo.com

To: LEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORS
Con­tact: Ibrahim Hoop­er, CAIR Nation­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Direc­tor, +1–202-488‑8787,

+1–202-744‑7726, ihooper@cair.com, Rabi­ah Ahmed, CAIR Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Coor­di­na­tor, +1–202-488‑8787, +1–202-439‑1441, rahmed@cair.com, or Ami­na Rubin, CAIR Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Coor­di­na­tor, +1–202-488‑8787, arubin@cair.com, all of Coun­cil on Amer­i­can-Islam­ic Rela­tions

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Coun­cil on Amer­i­can- Islam­ic Rela­tions (CAIR) today called on Amer­i­can Mus­lims and oth­er peo­ple of con­science to write let­ters in sup­port of Dr. Sami Al-Ari­an, a for­mer Flori­da pro­fes­sor cur­rent­ly on a hunger strike in fed­er­al deten­tion to protest his treat­ment by U.S. author­i­ties.

Fam­i­ly mem­bers report that Al-Ari­an col­lapsed on the 23rd day of his fast and has been moved from Vir­ginia to a med­ical facil­i­ty in North Car­oli­na.

CAIR asked that let­ters urg­ing Al-Ari­an’s release be sent to Judge Ger­ald Lee of the U.S. Dis­trict Court for the East­ern Dis­trict of Vir­ginia, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Alber­to Gon­za­les and Pres­i­dent Bush.

Al-Ari­an began his hunger strike more than three weeks ago after being giv­en a sen­tence of up to 18 months for refus­ing to tes­ti­fy before a grand jury in Vir­ginia. His attor­neys say an ear­li­er plea agree­ment freed him from fur­ther coop­er­a­tion with the gov­ern­ment. Sup­port­ers say the gov­ern­men­t’s actions amount to a form of harass­ment.

SEE: Al-Ari­an Goes on Hunger Strike (Arab Amer­i­can News) http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=7555

In 2005, a Flori­da jury reject­ed fed­er­al charges that Al-Ari­an oper­at­ed a cell for the Pales­tin­ian Islam­ic Jihad. Al-Ari­an lat­er plead­ed guilty to a less­er charge and was sched­uled for release and depor­ta­tion in April.

SEE: No Guilty Ver­dicts in Al-Ari­an Tri­al (Tam­pa Tri­bune) http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBAT3MOWGE.html

The Amer­i­can Mus­lim Task­force on Civ­il Rights and Elec­tions (AMT), a nation­al coali­tion of major Amer­i­can Mus­lim orga­ni­za­tions, recent­ly said the new prison sen­tence giv­en to Al-Ari­an amount­ed to uncon­sti­tu­tion­al “dou­ble jeop­ardy.”

SEE: U.S. Mus­lims Call Al-Ari­an Impris­on­ment ‘Dou­ble Jeop­ardy’ http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2550&theType=NR

CAIR, Amer­i­ca’s largest Islam­ic civ­il lib­er­ties group, has 32 offices and chap­ters nation­wide and in Cana­da. Its mis­sion is to enhance the under­stand­ing of Islam, encour­age dia­logue, pro­tect civ­il lib­er­ties, empow­er Amer­i­can Mus­lims, and build coali­tions that pro­mote jus­tice and mutu­al under­stand­ing.

CONTACT: CAIR Nation­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Direc­tor Ibrahim Hoop­er, 202–488-8787 or 202–744-7726, E‑Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Coor­di­na­tor Rabi­ah Ahmed, 202–488-8787 or 202–439-1441, E‑Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Coor­di­na­tor Ami­na Rubin, 202–488-8787, E- Mail: arubin@cair.com

SOURCE Coun­cil on Amer­i­can-Islam­ic Rela­tions