Judge Says Case Against UA Student Weak
Jaber Ordered To Have Mental Evaluation
Last updated Wednesday, June 29, 2005 9:56 PM CDT in Front
By Ron Wood
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- A University of Arkansas graduate student accused of trying to join the Palestinian holy war against Israel will likely be released on bond until trial, pending the outcome of a mental evaluation, because the government's case is weak, a judge said Wednesday.
Arwah J. Jaber of Fayetteville was arrested by federal authorities earlier this month on a criminal complaint accusing him of knowingly attempting to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The State Department has designated the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization.
Jaber appeared tired, thin and unshaven in court and did not testify. He was brought to court wearing a white, short-sleeved T-shirt, jeans and sandals. Jaber spent most of the hearing looking down at the defense table and occasionally crying.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Beverly Stites Jones ordered Jaber to be evaluated. She also provided a laundry list of conditions for his release, depending on the results. Conditions include putting up the family home for bond, electronic monitoring, continued education and severely restricted travel. He could be released as early as Monday, an attorney said.
If Jaber meets the requirements for release, Jones will issue an order rather than holding another hearing.
Jones cited the weakness of the government's case against Jaber at a probable cause and detention hearing Wednesday in Fort Smith as a primary factor in her decision to release Jaber. Jones also said it appears Jaber might have a reasonable explanation for what he did.
"This case is troubling to me because the facts are in such dispute," Jones said.
Jones repeatedly pressed the government about Jaber's intent on the day he was arrested at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport rather than focusing on what he had done in the weeks leading up to the arrest.
The government contends he was flying out to join the jihad. Jaber maintains he was going to visit relatives.
Jaber's lawyers, and his wife, Dawn, contend he didn't really mean what he said about going to fight. Instead, he was frustrated and said those things in an effort to manipulate his adviser enough to sign off on his doctoral work so he could graduate. Jaber is a chemistry student and his adviser is professor Charles Wilkins.
"I told him that was stupid and it's not going to work," Dawn Jaber said.
John Wesley Hall, a member of Jaber's defense team, said, "It was a flippant, stupid, idiotic comment that he retracted."
Jaber allegedly recanted the statements in interviews with federal agents but they did not include that information in the affidavit submitted to obtain an arrest warrant for Jaber, according to Hall.
Jaber apparently believed Wilkins was intentionally keeping him from graduating because Jaber maintained high-tech lab equipment and performed integral research for Wilkins. Jaber was entering his sixth year in a program that should have taken three, Dawn Jaber said. He was also stressed by trying to defend his doctoral dissertation, she said.
Jaber had a teaching job lined up at American University in Kuwait, which would pay more if he completed the degree program, Dawn Jaber said. He was feeling better about the situation because he had talked with Collis Geren, dean of the UA graduate school, and had been assured that he could take the job and still complete his remaining work, she said.
The couple was on their way to Palestine to visit relatives and planned to return before Jaber left for the job in Kuwait, she said. She was going to join him later, after completing her classes at the UA.
Hall said Jaber is guilty of nothing more than "spouting off" in the heat of the moment. He also argued the government has failed to show Jaber has done anything to provide material support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad's activities or that he presents any threat to U.S. citizens.
Talking about joining an organization or buying an airplane ticket does not qualify as providing material support, Hall said. He added, "He's hardly terrorist material."
Hall accused the government of "trying to create an aura" in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, world that Jaber was going to be a suicide bomber because he allegedly told federal agents that he had had suicidal thoughts at one point.
Deputy U.S. Attorney Wendy Johnson said the case is based on Jaber's own statements that he was going to join the jihad and fight Israelis; that his knowledge of chemistry would be useful to the cause; and, that he had once made explosives and smuggled it through airport security.
A car rented by Dawn Jaber was searched last week in Rogers, but it was determined the car had no evidence related to the case.
Johnson argued that Jaber, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the West Bank town of Yamoun, should be held in custody because he had no ties to the community other than his wife.
Agents also said during the hearing that they have a classified file on Jaber in addition to the pending criminal case. Agents refused to disclose what that file contains.
If convicted, Jaber faces up to 15 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
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