Irvine 11 update: 6 students subpoenaed for Grand Jury
Carol Sobel, an NLG attorney representing the Irvine 11, has told the press that 6 Muslim students have been summoned to testify before a Grand Jury. It is still unclear whether these 6 are part of the group of 11 that were arrested for heckling Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UCI on February 8, 2010, or if they are other students connected to the Muslim Student Union.
A rally outside the Orange County District Attorney’s office in Santa Ana February 1 drew about 40-50 UCI students, faculty, and alumni, and community members including Christian and Muslim religious leaders and Jewish activists. Student organizers called on the District Attorney to end criminal proceedings against the 11, and warned that charges would set new precedents for the criminalization of dissent.
The question of whether the protest is “free speech” is moot. Free speech at UCI is so limited that numerous campus rules must be broken to enter one’s views into the public form, and clearly any speech that challenges the dynamic and asymmetry of power on campus can result in arrest if not criminal charges. Especially in this case, when we take into consideration the aerial assaults on Gaza, the innumerable arrests of Palestinian