Here in the United States, a federal judge has ordered the release of the jailed Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian on bond. Al-Arian is awaiting trial for refusing to appear before a grand jury probing an Islamic charity in northern Virginia. He has already spent an additional eighteen months in prison for refusing to testify. Al-Arian was due to be released in April, after serving five years on charges he was a leader of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. He had accepted that sentence after reaching a plea agreement to avoid a second trial. In his original trial, a Florida jury failed to return a single guilty verdict on any of the seventeen charges brought against him. Al-Arian could still find himself behind bars if he posts bond. As part of his plea deal, Al-Arian accepted deportation upon his release, meaning he would be taken into immigration custody if he’s freed from jail. Bond was set at $340,000, the amount of Al-Arian’s retirement fund. Al-Arian’s daughter, the journalist Laila Al-Arian, said, “We’re very pleased that the judge recognized on the record that my father is neither a threat to the community nor a flight risk. We are hoping that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will do the right thing and release him.”