10 of the defendants in the Irvine 11 case have been found guilty of conspiracy and disturbing the peace and were sentenced to three years probation and 55 hours of community service (see the Occupy California website). The other defendant had his charges dropped in exchange for community service after it was found that some of his charges resulted from a confidential email between him and his attorney, obtained by the District Attorney’s office, that should not have been made available to the court.
The Irvine 11 are Muslim students from UC Irvine who were arrested for disrupting a speech on campus by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. It should be pointed out that they only heckled the ambassador for a few minutes, while Oren cut his own speech short in order to attend the LA Lakers game.
The idea that they were guilty of conspiracy and disturbing the peace is absurd. Heckling is a time honored form of free speech. While it may be offensive to some, it was done nonviolently and politely, as the students consistently referred to Oren as “Sir.” It should also be pointed out the Zionist students have disrupted Muslim Student Union events and heckled their speakers while police have looked on, without arresting or charging the Zionist students for conspiracy, disturbing the peace or anything else.
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