NEW YORK, Dec 7: A jury in a Florida court on Tuesday acquitted a Palestinian professor and three co-defendants, on all 51 criminal counts. They were accused of operating a North American front for Palestinian terrorists.

Calling the verdict a major defeat for law-enforcement officials, the New York Times said former professor, Sami Al Arian, a fiery advocate for Palestinian causes who became a lightning rod for criticism nationwide over his vocal anti-Israeli stances, was found not guilty on eight criminal counts related to terrorist support, perjury and immigration violations.

The jury deadlocked on the remaining nine counts against him after deliberating for 13 days, and it did not return any guilty verdicts against the three other defendants in the case.

“This was a political prosecution from the start, and I think the jury realized that,” Linda Moreno, one of Mr Arian’s defence lawyers, told the newspaper in a telephone interview.

“They looked over at Sami Al Arian; they saw a man who had taken unpopular positions on issues thousands of miles away, but they realized he wasn’t a terrorist. The truth is a powerful thing.”

American officials in Washington expressed surprise at the verdict in a case they had pursued for years.