Wife of known terrorist Sami Al-Arian was protesting with students at Columbia University

The wife of a known terrorist was reportedly involved in the student protests on the campus of Columbia University. Sami Al-Arian, who was deported in 2015 for aiding Islamic Jihad, posted that his wife Nahla was "in solidarity with the brave and very determined Columbia University students."

Dozens of those students were arrested on Tuesday night after university president Minouche Shafik asked officers to clear the occupation at Hamilton Hall. The encampment on the quad was also cleared.

In 2006, Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison for a conspiracy to make material contributions to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the terror groups operating in Gaza. Three years of supervised release were to commence after serving 57 months in prison, as well as deportation.

Al-Arian pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment in exchange for the Department of Justice dropping the remaining charges against him. In his plea, however, per the DOJ, "Al-Arian admitted that, during the period of the late 1980’s and early to mid-1990’s, he and several of his co-conspirators were associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He further admitted that he performed various services for the PIJ in 1995 and thereafter, knowing that the PIJ had been designated as a Specially Designated Terrorist and that the PIJ engaged in horrific and deadly acts of violence."

Among those crimes were filing for immigration benefits for known terrorists, "hiding the identities of individuals associated with the PIJ, and providing assistance for an individual associated with the PIJ in a US court proceeding."

Judge Moody, who heard the case, referred to Al-Arian as a "master manipulator" and a "leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad." He was deported to Turkey in 2015. 

Al-Arian has been outspoken about the protests at Columbia. He also claimed that "There is no issue in the world today that can unite all the forces of goodness, freedom, truth and justice like the Palestinian issue. Palestine will be the symbol, ruler, scale and compass by which every society, party, institution or individual will be measured. Here are the 4 imperatives and 12 key words for success. 1. Building a movement: Strategize, Organize, Mobilize 2. Forming alliances: Educate, Innovate, Integrate 3. Staying the struggle: Resist, Insist, Persist 4. Achieving results."