12/6/2005: A federal jury on Tuesday failed to return a single guilty verdict on any of the 51 criminal counts against former Florida professor, Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants accused of helping to lead a Palestinian terrorist group. He remains in jail and awaits the decision of the prosecutors on whether or not to retry him on the deadlocked charges.

Until his arrest, Al-Arian was one of the most prominent Palestinian academics and activists in the United States. His indictment in 2003 was hailed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as one of the first triumphs of the Patriot Act. The prosecution took nearly five months to present its case, presenting hundreds of documents, including thousands of hours of wiretapped telephone calls, intercepted e-mails and faxes and bank records gathered over a decade. Al-Arian didn't call a single witness on his behalf. After months of prosecution "evidence", the sole response by Al-Arian's attorney was "On behalf of Dr. Al-Arian, the defense rests."

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