Verdict against Muslim students criticised

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK - Leaders of four prominent Muslim organizations said Sunday they are appalled by an American court jury's verdict convicting 10 of the Muslim students on both misdemeanour counts of disturbing a meeting and conspiring to disturb a meeting.
The students shouted anti-Israel slogans as the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, gave his speech at the University of California, Irvine, in February last year.
"The students had become a target of selective and heavy-handed prosecution by the Orange County District Attorney's office ...", a press release by the Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR) said in a press release. They underwent confidential administrative hearings conducted by the university, and the UCI Muslim Student Union was penalized with a one-quarter suspension and community service, it said.
Each student has been sentenced to three years of informal probation, fined about $200, and has to do 56 hours of community service.
"It's a sad day for democracy when nonviolent protestors are criminalized by their government and are found guilty for exercising a constitutional right," said Salam Al-Marayati, Muslim Public Affairs Council President. "You can heckle the President, you can heckle high ranking government officials, but if you heckle an Israeli diplomat you will be prosecuted. These are Americans exercising their freedoms. This is a democracy not a dictatorship."
"Justice was jaundiced in case of UCI-11 students and America must worry for its democratic future," said Shakeel Syed, Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California.
"When history books are written, the 'Irvine 11' will stand alongside other great American civil rights heroes like Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X," said Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Greater Los Angeles Area. "They peacefully and courageously stood up against injustice, and they defended our collective freedom of speech. No topic should be off limits and no public official or country should be above criticism. They are true American heroes."
"It is with the deepest disappointment and sadness that we hear the jury's verdict on the Irvine 11," said Khaled Bahjri, President, Muslim American Society, Greater Los Angeles. "The jury decided that the 10 defendants are guilty on both accounts. This is a huge step backward for our American principles of freedom and justice."