Fla. Professor Is Acquitted in Case Seen as Patriot Act Test

As this report from The Washington Post notes, University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian has been acquitted on eight of 17 charges he was facing in a federal trial alleging him of illegally supporting Palestinian terrorist organizations.

Al-Arian remains in jail as the jury was unable to come to a decision on other charges and the government is assessing whether or not it will seek to retry him on those charges.

Along with Al-Arian, two other defendants were acquitted on all counts and a third on 24 of 32 charges.

I cannot speak on the merits of the case, its prosecution, or its defense. I simply have not followed this case closely. I note it only to point out that contrary to public opinion in much of the Arab world, an Arab defendent, even in a terrorism case related to Israel, can be acquitted in America. I look forward to more analysis of the case to better understand exactly what happened here. I suggest others do so, too, rather than jumping to conclusions about it.