SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ten US Muslim Students Convicted for Disrupting Speech
Ten students to do community service for protesting against Israeli envoy's speech at a California university last year.
Sep 24, 2011
Ten US college students from Southern California have been convicted of unlawfully disrupting a speech by Israel's ambassador to the US last year and placed on probation.
Friday's verdict followed two full days of deliberations by a six-man, six-woman jury in a case that has touched off a furor over free-speech rights at the University of California at Irvine.
The students, who were ordered to perform 56 hours of community service, are to remain on probation for three years. But they could have that reduced to a year once they complete the community service.
Charges against an 11th defendant have been tentatively dismissed.
"We're going to continue fighting this. We're going to appeal this decision," supporter Marya Bangee, 25, said outside the court.
"These men to us represent our struggle for civil rights in this country and for them to be found guilty and sentenced for speaking their minds is devastating for us all."
The case stems from a protest organized by the Muslim Student Union at the university against a February 8, 2010, speech there by Michael Oren, the Israeli diplomat.
Pro-Palestine protest
Prosecutors say the students interrupted his appearance by shouting statements such as "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!" and "It's a shame this university has sponsored a mass murderer like yourself".
The US constitution guarantees Americans the right to freedom of speech.
But the Orange County district attorney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has said the students - rather than exercising their own free-speech rights - were interfering with the right of Oren to be heard.
The total amount of time taken up by the students' disruptions was approximately only one minute, an attorney for the group said.
The charges drew an outcry from civil liberties advocates and Southern California's Muslim community, who say the students were unfairly singled out for prosecution even though similar protests are common at universities and do not result in prosecution.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Berkeley, California, Liz Jackson from Students for Justice in Palestine, said that this conviction was a "disgrace to the criminal justice system".
"This is a political witchhunt trial that reminds me of what I studied about McCarthyism in the 1950s," she said.
Arab and Muslim students are more vulnerable when they protests because of Islamophobic sentiments, but trials like this are actually encouraging more students to speak out against Israel, Jackson said.
"There is so much outrage on Facebook, over email - students feel outraged and emboldened now."
Spectators began crying in the packed courtroom in Santa Ana, California, when the verdicts were read by a court clerk, and about 50 people left the courtroom visibly upset.
Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at UC Irvine, has also criticized the criminal charges as heavy-handed.
The Muslim Student Union was suspended by the university for an academic quarter and put on probation for two years.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Ten US college students from Southern California have been convicted of unlawfully disrupting a speech by Israel's ambassador to the US last year and placed on probation.
Friday's verdict followed two full days of deliberations by a six-man, six-woman jury in a case that has touched off a furor over free-speech rights at the University of California at Irvine.
The students, who were ordered to perform 56 hours of community service, are to remain on probation for three years. But they could have that reduced to a year once they complete the community service.
Charges against an 11th defendant have been tentatively dismissed.
"We're going to continue fighting this. We're going to appeal this decision," supporter Marya Bangee, 25, said outside the court.
"These men to us represent our struggle for civil rights in this country and for them to be found guilty and sentenced for speaking their minds is devastating for us all."
The case stems from a protest organized by the Muslim Student Union at the university against a February 8, 2010, speech there by Michael Oren, the Israeli diplomat.
Pro-Palestine protest
Prosecutors say the students interrupted his appearance by shouting statements such as "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!" and "It's a shame this university has sponsored a mass murderer like yourself".
The US constitution guarantees Americans the right to freedom of speech.
But the Orange County district attorney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has said the students - rather than exercising their own free-speech rights - were interfering with the right of Oren to be heard.
The total amount of time taken up by the students' disruptions was approximately only one minute, an attorney for the group said.
The charges drew an outcry from civil liberties advocates and Southern California's Muslim community, who say the students were unfairly singled out for prosecution even though similar protests are common at universities and do not result in prosecution.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Berkeley, California, Liz Jackson from Students for Justice in Palestine, said that this conviction was a "disgrace to the criminal justice system".
"This is a political witchhunt trial that reminds me of what I studied about McCarthyism in the 1950s," she said.
Arab and Muslim students are more vulnerable when they protests because of Islamophobic sentiments, but trials like this are actually encouraging more students to speak out against Israel, Jackson said.
"There is so much outrage on Facebook, over email - students feel outraged and emboldened now."
Spectators began crying in the packed courtroom in Santa Ana, California, when the verdicts were read by a court clerk, and about 50 people left the courtroom visibly upset.
Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at UC Irvine, has also criticized the criminal charges as heavy-handed.
The Muslim Student Union was suspended by the university for an academic quarter and put on probation for two years.
Ten US college students from Southern California have been convicted of unlawfully disrupting a speech by Israel's ambassador to the US last year and placed on probation.
Friday's verdict followed two full days of deliberations by a six-man, six-woman jury in a case that has touched off a furor over free-speech rights at the University of California at Irvine.
The students, who were ordered to perform 56 hours of community service, are to remain on probation for three years. But they could have that reduced to a year once they complete the community service.
Charges against an 11th defendant have been tentatively dismissed.
"We're going to continue fighting this. We're going to appeal this decision," supporter Marya Bangee, 25, said outside the court.
"These men to us represent our struggle for civil rights in this country and for them to be found guilty and sentenced for speaking their minds is devastating for us all."
The case stems from a protest organized by the Muslim Student Union at the university against a February 8, 2010, speech there by Michael Oren, the Israeli diplomat.
Pro-Palestine protest
Prosecutors say the students interrupted his appearance by shouting statements such as "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!" and "It's a shame this university has sponsored a mass murderer like yourself".
The US constitution guarantees Americans the right to freedom of speech.
But the Orange County district attorney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has said the students - rather than exercising their own free-speech rights - were interfering with the right of Oren to be heard.
The total amount of time taken up by the students' disruptions was approximately only one minute, an attorney for the group said.
The charges drew an outcry from civil liberties advocates and Southern California's Muslim community, who say the students were unfairly singled out for prosecution even though similar protests are common at universities and do not result in prosecution.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Berkeley, California, Liz Jackson from Students for Justice in Palestine, said that this conviction was a "disgrace to the criminal justice system".
"This is a political witchhunt trial that reminds me of what I studied about McCarthyism in the 1950s," she said.
Arab and Muslim students are more vulnerable when they protests because of Islamophobic sentiments, but trials like this are actually encouraging more students to speak out against Israel, Jackson said.
"There is so much outrage on Facebook, over email - students feel outraged and emboldened now."
Spectators began crying in the packed courtroom in Santa Ana, California, when the verdicts were read by a court clerk, and about 50 people left the courtroom visibly upset.
Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at UC Irvine, has also criticized the criminal charges as heavy-handed.
The Muslim Student Union was suspended by the university for an academic quarter and put on probation for two years.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.