Legalized Islamophobia

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.

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.
~ from Ten US Muslim Students Convicted for Disrupting Speech ~

While one could argue that it's bad form to interrupt a speaker -- something Rush Limbaugh and Ed Schultz are famous for -- who would have guessed that it would be deemed illegal?

What I find stunning about the DA's interpretation is that there is no constitutional right to be heard. No, the right concerns expression. Each of us is free to express our views and others get to decide if they wish to listen.

I will not take the DA's position seriously until I see that office prosecute the flip side. If a Muslim-sponsored event takes place within the jurisdiction and Islamophobic protesters try to shout down a speaker -- so that he or she can't be heard -- then this DA must throw the book at them! If not, then the DA can't pontificate at all about the rule of law.