The Al-Arian Trial

Remember Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida college prof who was accused of abetting terrorists? His college originally tried to can him on the grounds that, in the words of the anti-p.c., pro-free-speech group FIRE, "negative reactions to Professor Sami Al-Arian's otherwise protected speech constituted appropriate grounds to fire him."

News from his trial:

The case against Sami Al-Arian, 47, had been seen as one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded search-and-surveillance powers.

After a five-month trial and 13 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight of the 17 counts against him, including a key charge of conspiring to maim and murder people overseas. The jurors deadlocked on the others, including charges he aided terrorists.

Whole AP version, via the Cincinnati Enquirer, here.

In 2002, Al-Arian talked with the Chronicle of Higher Education and its readers here.

FIRE has case materials about Al-Arian and the University of South Florida here.