Santa Ana, CA – Eleven Muslim students charged with disrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine, are seeking to have the Orange County district attorney pulled off the case.
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Dan Mayfield, one of the students’ attorneys, said prosecutors illegally obtained search warrants and focused on his clients’ perceived religion by dubbing the case the “UCI Muslim case.”
Deputy District Attorney Dan Wagner says the allegations are not grounds to recuse his office.
The students appeared in a Santa Ana court Friday but their arraignment was delayed until April 15.
The students are charged with one count of misdemeanor conspiracy to disturb a meeting and one count of misdemeanor disturbance of a meeting. They were arrested on Feb 8, 2010, after shouting in protest at Oren’s speech, forcing him to halt his remarks.
Arresting students for protesting? Sounds like Iran to me.
What happened to first amendment rights? How could the Supreme Court uphold the right of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest at soldiers’ funerals yet allow students’ arrest for voicing political opposition. Something in this story does not jive.
The Westboro Baptist loonies were not interrupting the funeral. They stood outside and held up their offensive signs. the students at UCI shouted down the speaker and prevented him from speaking. Had they been picketing (while allowing people to enter) or distributing leaflets outside, they would not have been prosecuted. Had they been wearing armbands or holding up signs while Oren spoke, they would not have been prosecuted. However, preventing him from speaking by shouting him down is a different matter.
What about the speaker’s rights?????
These students don’t feel so big now – I bet most of them are scared scaredless, I mean some of them are trying to look brave but non of them want what’s really coming to them,
bottomline don’t brake the law there is always a consequence
Both lawyers have beards deff fringe left. Look at the students with taped mouths as if “they are shutting us up”
You cannot disrupt an event, its not covered in the first, adaraba oren’s firsts were violated