Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2008: USA vs. Al-Arian

Sami Al-Arian, the subject of Line Halvorsen’s real-life, Kafkaesque nightmare doc “USA vs. Al-Arian,” is a highly regarded professor with a loving wife named Nahla, three daughters, and two sons, who happens to be an outspoken advocate of Palestinian rights (unsurprisingly since he and Nahla were raised refugees, displaced when Israel came into being). He’s also one of the many residents of the United States who found himself on the wrong side of the Patriot Act after 9/11, held for two and half years in maximum security, awaiting trial on flimsy, terrorism related charges.

To read the rest of my review visit The House Next Door.

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