Here in this country, jailed Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian has ended his 60-day hunger strike at the urging of his family. Over the past two months, Al-Arian lost 53 pounds and became too weak to walk. Al-Arian remains in jail despite a jury’s failure over a year ago to return a single guilty verdict on any of the 17 charges brought against him. The U.S. government had accused him of being a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He eventually signed a plea deal with the government in exchange for being released and deported. He was scheduled to be released in April. But in January a judge sentenced him to an additional 18 months in jail for refusing to testify before a Virginia grand jury. On Friday, a federal appeals court affirmed that judge’s decision.