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Trial to test Patriot Act curbs, free speech limitsFrom Brian Todd YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former engineering professor Sami Al-Arian was used to being in public. Now he must travel behind tinted windows. His attorney, William Moffitt, is taken aback by all the security. "Overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed," he says. For years, while teaching at the University of South Florida, he also ran a think tank and an Islamic charity. He has posed with President Bush and visited the White House. Now he's at the center of a high-profile terrorism case that will test both Patriot Act laws and free speech rights. "Politics. It's all politics!" al Arian says of the case. Al-Arian and three others face more than 50 federal charges, which include providing material support to a terrorist organization, conspiracy and racketeering. They were indicted in 2003. "We make no distinction between those who carry out terrorist attacks and those who knowingly finance, manage or supervise terrorist organizations. We'll bring justice to the full network of terror," former Attorney General John Ashcroft said in February 2003. Prosecutors say al-Arian used his charity and think tank as fronts to funnel money to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and blamed for more than 100 deaths in Israel, including those of Americans. Al-Arian was interviewed by CNN in August of 2002, during the investigation, and said, "I don't support suicide bombings. I don't support the targeting of civilians of any nationality, background, or religions. I am deeply against it." The government says it has evidence amounting to thousands of hours of intercepted phone calls involving al-Arian, and hundreds of faxes gathered for a decade by U.S. law enforcement. That kind of evidence became admissible for criminal trial when the Patriot Act was passed. This case may show how far the government can go to monitor potential suspects and how far the individual can go in matters of free speech -- like a speech al-Arian made years ago during which he said, "Jihad is our path ... Death to Israel..." But at an August 2002 event al-Arian said, "I've explained this over and over again. I am a pro-Palestinian person. I don't wish death to any people." Al-Arian's contention that he's being prosecuted for unpopular views and the government's counter of extensive terrorist ties, backed up by controversial new laws, is expected to play out in a Tampa courthouse for about six months. Al-Arian and his co-defendants could face life in prison if they're convicted. Five other men have been indicted in this case, but they are not in custody. 
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