Free Republic

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. --Two Middle Eastern men arrested near a Navy base after police found a suspicious item in their car were charged Monday with possession of an incendiary device, authorities said. A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see if there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were being held Monday pending a...

GOOSE CREEK — Ingredients necessary to make pipe bombs were found Saturday in the trunk of a car being driven by two Florida college students, according to court documents. Now the men will have to post a combined $800,000 in bond to get out of jail, a circuit judge decided this afternoon. Youseff Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 24, have been charged with possession of an incendiary device, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt announced today. If convicted of the charges, the men could face between 2 to 15 years in prison. Mohamed’s bond was set at $500,000 while Megahead’s was...

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) - Two men found with several pipe bombs in their car near a Navy base were charged Monday with possession of an explosive device, authorities said. A joint state-federal investigation was under way to see whether there was any terrorism connection but no link had been found yet, said FBI spokeswoman Denise Taiste. The Navy base is the site of a brig where enemy combatants have been held. Ahmed Abda Sherf Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Samir Megahed, 21, both students at the University of South Florida in Tampa, were driving through the area on Saturday to...

In what is being called a "wrongful birth" case, a jury awarded more than $21 million to a couple who claimed a doctor misdiagnosed a severe birth defect in their son, leading them to have a second child with similar problems. But because the doctor works for the University of South Florida, the family will have to persuade the Legislature to award most of the money. State law limits negligence claims against government agencies at $200,000. Daniel and Amara Estrada, whose two young sons aren't able to communicate and need constant care, sought at least enough money to care for...

The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) has urged the University of San Francisco (USF)—a Jesuit, Catholic university—to cancel its invitation to pro-abortion Rep. Nancy Pelosi to deliver the university’s commencement address this Saturday. CNS also is opposing a posthumous honorary degree to pro-abortion politician Leo T. McCarthy. “Even as we celebrate the fact that a growing number of Catholic colleges are choosing exemplary commencement speakers and honorees, we learn that the University of San Francisco has chosen a much different direction,” wrote CNS President Patrick J. Reilly in a letter faxed to USF President Rev. Stephen Privett, S.J., today. “You are...

Cellular subscribers are paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year to subsidize land-line telephone service, enriching big telecommunications companies while providing little or no benefit to cell-phone users. The subsidies are intended to reimburse the companies for providing traditional phone service in rough terrain and rural areas where stringing lines can be costly. But rampant development has transformed some of these backwaters into booming subdivisions, with no real adjustment to the distribution formula; others, such as the oceanfront celebrity playground of Malibu, are receiving subsidies simply because of their difficult topography. Outdated formulas for tabulating the surcharges -- coupled...

Sheik Jamal Said stood before the packed mosque and worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Speaking Arabic, the prayer leader asked for a donation of $10,000. No one responded. He asked for $5,000, and three men raised their hands. < SNIP> The recipient of the worshipers' generosity was Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist accused by the U.S. government of aiding terrorists. And the prayer leader's passionate appeal is a reflection of the ascendancy of Muslim hard-liners at the mosque, one of the most outspoken and embattled in the U.S. The mosque did not become this way without a struggle. Relying...

Ann Coulter will be speaking tonight at USF (University of South Florida), a quite liberal university. The following are some typical e-mails circulating on the campus e-mail system. The best way to end Ann’s nonsense is for no one to show up. Simple as that. Don’t bother protesting as that is what she wants. When only her die hard fans appear, and hundreds of seats stay empty, that will be a better message. The determination and definition of hate speech can be highly subjective depending on who you talk to. I hear of some who felt Michael Moore or Al...

 On the website, Why Islam (www.whyislam.org), there are found many things that would shock even the least squeamish of individuals.  Anti-Semitism, homophobia, terrorism and misogyny abound.  At the Muslim Students Association (MSA) of the University of South Florida (USF), an advertisement for Why Islam has been placed prominently on the group’s office door.  The question must be posed to the MSA and the university – Why?Walking across the campus of USF, one finds a number of reminders of the school’s most storied professor, Sami Al-Arian – the ever-growing Computer Science and Engineering Department, where Al-Arian taught class; The Castor Building,...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 8, 2006CONTACT: Vivian Myrtetus (850) 656-9445Cell (850) 508-2654 NRA and Unified Sportsmen Endorse CristTALLAHASSEE – The National Rifle Association of America and the Unified Sportsmen of Florida yesterday endorsed the campaign of Charlie Crist, Attorney General and candidate for Governor. Citing Crist’s strong support of law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen, both organizations prefer Crist in the Republican Primary. “No one has been stronger in support of Second Amendment, self-defense, and anti-crime issues than Charlie Crist and we sincerely appreciate your solid pro-sportsmen, pro-Second Amendment, pro-freedom record,” said Marion Hammer, NRA past president and Executive Director of...

A co-defendant of a former college professor accused of terrorist ties has been released from jail and deported, more than five months after his trial ended, his attorney and federal officials said Wednesday. Sameeh Hammoudeh's attorney had sued the government this year to try to expedite the deportation, and a federal judge had given immigration officials until Wednesday to deport him or explain why they continued to hold him. Federal officials Tuesday took Hammoudeh, 46, to Jordan, where he crossed into the West Bank to be reunited with his wife and six children, said his attorney, Stephen Bernstein. "He's home...

AMPA - A judge revoked bail for two Saudi men arrested Friday for boarding a school bus and riding to Wharton High. Initially, Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were held in Orient Road Jail on bails of $250 each on misdemeanor trespassing charges. Circuit Judge Monica Sierra decided to hold them at a court appearance Saturday so investigators could dig deeper into their pasts. A friend of the two University of South Florida students tried to post their bail Friday night, said Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but a jail clerk...

TAMPA -- A judge on Monday sentenced former professor Sami Al-Arian to another year and a half in prison before he will be deported in his terrorism conspiracy case. Al-Arian, 48, was sentenced to four years and nine months, but he will get credit for the three years and three months he has already served while being held before and after his trial. His lawyer, Linda Moreno, asked the judge to release her client now, but the judge refused and called Al-Arian ``a master manipulator.''

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Former Florida university professor Sami al-Arian has pleaded guilty to aiding the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported, U.S. officials said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Al-Arian and three co-defendants were charged in 2003 with helping the group carry out attacks in Israel. In December, a federal jury in Tampa found al-Arian not guilty on eight charges and failed to reach a verdict on nine others after a six-month trial. Prosecutors, whose failure to convict al-Arian after the jury trial was seen as a stiff blow to the U.S. government's attempts to prosecute terrorism suspects,...

Federal authorities have decided to deport a former University of South Florida professor and long-time Palestinian rights activist after failing to convict him on charges he helped finance terrorist attacks in Israel. Two lawyers familiar with the case say Sami Al-Arian has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge and be deported. The lawyers spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been made public by the court. It isn't clear where Al-Arian will be sent. Al-Arian has been in jail since a Tampa jury acquitted him in December on eight of the...

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities have decided to deport a former Florida professor and longtime Palestinian rights activist after failing to convict him on charges he helped finance terrorist attacks in Israel. Sami Al-Arian, who had met with U.S. presidents and other political leaders before his terrorism indictment in 2003, reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge and be deported, two lawyers familiar with the case said Friday. The arrangement requires the approval of a judge.

DETROIT - A Cleveland imam convicted of hiding terrorist ties has agreed to leave the United States, ending his deportation case, his attorney and government officials said Thursday. The agreement allows Fawaz Damra to resettle in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt or the Palestinian territories, said Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review. A judge has approved the agreement with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will decide his destination. Damra is still in federal custody, said Robert Birach, a Detroit lawyer who negotiated for him. He declined to discuss more...

There it is. Turn on the news it should be on right about now. His co-conspirators too.

Tampa -- A fired college professor and associates accused of terrorism conspiracy communicated in code to conceal their support of a Palestinian group whose mission was to kill Israelis and disrupt the Middle East peace process, an FBI agent testified Wednesday. Agent Kerry Myers testified that a 1994 coded fax sent to Sami Al-Arian's home seemed to discuss "magazines" but really referred to money that Iran was sending to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The organization is a terrorist group for which Al-Arian and three co-defendants are accused of raising money. Other code words Myers identified as typical during phone, fax...

TAMPA - A heart-breaking last will and testament and a letter vital to the prosecution's case were quietly entered into evidence Thursday in the trial of Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants. Without mentioning what they were, federal prosecutor Alexis Collins asked the judge to accept T-516 and T-402 into evidence. With those meaningless labels, two documents passed into the public record like a death notice slipped under a door. Their subject: martyrdom. One last will and testament came from Adel Kamel Daher, a 26-year-old Palestinian who was gunned down by Israeli soldiers after attacking an Israeli convoy with two...