USA vs AL-ARIAN
USA vs AL-ARIAN is a close portrait of an Arab-American family facing terrorism charges leveled by the U.S. Government.
“The film combines all the elements any documentary needs: a powerful story, strong characters and an emotional journey well crafted together.” Nordisk Panorama Doc Jury 2007
The film is a personal story of a family living in a society where fear of terrorism has resulted in increasing stigmatization and discrimination against Muslims, a society where a common man becomes a victim of the situation in the contemporary world, where the Big Brother is watching you even when you´re ordering pizza.
For years, Nahla Al-Arian and her children have been fighting to prove the innocence of husband and father Sami, a Palestinian refugee, university professor and civil rights activist, who has lived in the USA for more than thirty years.
In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was accused of giving material support to a terrorist organization and held in solitary confinement for over three years. His six-month trial ended without a single guilty verdict. The failure to convict Dr. Al-Arian was seen as a stinging rebuke for the federal government.
While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its campaign against international terrorism, Sami Al-Arian claims he has been targeted in an attempt to silence his political views.
Because the jury hung on some of the counts, however, Dr. Al-Arian remained in jail as the prosecution threatened to retry him. In May 2006 he agreed to a plea bargain with the US Government in order to put an end to the ordeal and to be reunited with his family.
A federal judge sentenced him to 57 months in prison and subsequent deportation, and his family is now searching for a country that will accept him, a stateless Palestinian, upon his release from prison.
The case of Sami Al-Arian is one of the first major tests of the USA PATRIOT ACT, a controversial law passed hastily after September 11, 2001.
- Release year:
- May 2007
- Director:
- Line Halvorsen
- Producer:
- Jan Dalchow
- Supported by:
- The Freedom of Expression Foundation, The Norwegian Film Fund, NRK and Nordic Film- and TV Fund.
- Co production:
- SVT, YLE, ERT & TV2 Danmark
- Running length:
- 52 / 98 minutes
- Production company:
- Dalchows Verden
- Prizes:
- - JURY PRIZE AT NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL
- BEST DOCUMENTARY AT NORDISK PANORAMA 2007
- OFFICIAL SELECTION HOTDOCS 2007
- WINNER OF BEST FILM AT THE NORWEGIAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL 2007
- WINNER OF AUDIENCE AWARD TROMSO 2007
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