SANTA ANA, Calif. – A jury convicted 10 Muslim students on Friday of disrupting a talk by the Israeli ambassador on a university campus in a case that has stoked an intense debate about free speech.
The students also were convicted of conspiring to disrupt Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech in February 2010 at the University of California, Irvine.
The students were charged with misdemeanor counts after standing up, one by one, and shouting prepared statements such as “propagating murder is not an expression of free speech,”’ which were followed by cheers from supporters.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson sentenced the defendants to 56 hours of community service and three years of informal probation.
The judge found that the incident did not merit jail time, and he added that the probation period would be reduced to one year if the community service is completed by the end of January 2012. Minimal court fines and fees were also assessed against the 10 students.
About 150 people including relatives and supporters of the students and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas attended the verdict in a case that often packed the courtroom. Some community members gasped and started crying when the verdict was read and about a dozen walked out.
The case has stoked an impassioned debate in the affluent suburbs southeast of Los Angeles about free speech rights.
