Convicted terrorist and former college professor Sami Al-Arian has been indicted on two counts of criminal contempt after refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Islamic charities.

According to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, the grand jury’s focus is thought to be on terror financing by the Herndon, Va.-based International Institute of Islamic Thought, which was the single biggest donor for Al-Arian’s Tampa-based think tank, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise. While president of IIIT, Al-Arian wrote a letter referring to WISE as an extension of IIIT. The organization also housed Bashir Musa Nafi, one of the original founders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian’s supporters claim this indictment is as an act of retribution by the Department of Justice because Al-Arian’s 2005 trial resulted in eight acquittals and a hung jury on the remaining nine counts. But would not a truly repentant Al-Arian ‘fess up what he might know about terror financing?