Created: 5/12/2006 12:15:35 PM 
TAMPA, FL (AP) -- Sami Al-Arian, a former Tampa professor, will appeal a judge's decision to sentence him to additional prison time for his role in a terrorism financing case.
Attorney C. Peter Erlinder says he filed the notice of appeal to keep Al-Arian's options open, but he says that it's not clear if Al-Arian will want to pursue an appeal.
On May first, Al-Arian was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, the most allowed under the terms of a plea agreement that also calls for his deportation. The sentence means Al-Arian, who has already spent more than three years in custody, must serve about a year and a half more before he is deported.
A federal jury acquitted Al-Arian of eight counts of aiding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad while deadlocking on nine other counts. Instead of facing a second trial on the remaining counts, he pleaded guilty to one count of providing services to members of the PIJ.
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