There’s a very serious propaganda campaign under way to drum up sympathy for jailed Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian, by Muslim Brotherhood front group MAS and (of course) CAIR. Steven Emerson is outraged by a New York Times article that uncritically repeats the front groups’ falsehoods: What about Sami?: New York Times Buys Into American Ikhwan Lobbying on Behalf of Convicted Terrorist.

The New York Times today became the latest tool in an aggressive lobbying campaign aimed at sabotaging a terror investigation in northern Virginia.

The campaign to free Sami Al-Arian started last year, led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and other American Islamist groups after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative was held in contempt of court for refusing to comply with consecutive grand jury subpoenas. He now is defying his third subpoena to testify in a terror finance investigation involving a Virginia-based network that provided Al-Arian’s organizations with tens of thousands of dollars in the 1990s.

In 2006, Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison, with credit for time served, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to provide goods and services to the PIJ. Though his prison sentence is over, Al-Arian could be held in contempt again or even face criminal contempt of court charges. That’s what the New York Times reports today. But, just like Al-Arian’s supporters, today’s Times story grossly mischaracterizes the case, distorts what Al-Arian has admitted and incorrectly states why he remains in jeopardy:

“The Justice Department and some independent terrorism investigators have long accused Mr. Al-Arian of being the main North America organizer for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for some of the more deadly suicide bombings against Israeli targets and which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

Mr. Al-Arian’s supporters, though, say that he is nothing more sinister than an outspoken Palestinian activist, and that the Justice Department has tried to exploit the post-Sept. 11 mood in the United States to punish him for that, using legal maneuvering to keep him behind bars.”

If this were a secret tribunal, Times reporter Neil MacFarquhar might be excused for blindly accepting the representations of Al-Arian’s attorneys and supporters. But there is an open record, one every reporter at the nation’s supposed paper of record should be able to locate. Here’s some help. Click here. It is Al-Arian’s plea agreement. In a nutshell, it states that (Al-Arian) is pleading guilty because [the] defendant is in fact guilty.”