Santa Ana — With his co-defendants standing behind him, Mohamed Mohy-Eldeen Abdelgany holds up a peace sign during a news conference after he and nine other Muslim students were found guilty of conspiring to disrupt and then disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador at UC Irvine last year. Eight of the 10 students were present for the verdict at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. The other two had permission by the court to be out of town. Before the trial, charges against one defendant in the so-called Irvine 11 case were tentatively dismissed pending completion of 40 hours of community service at a soup kitchen.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Some of the convicted Muslim students pray outside the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana after the guilty verdict. Prosecutors contended that the students broke the law by organizing in emails and meetings to disrupt the Israeli ambassador’s speech. Defense attorneys argued that the guilty verdict would stifle student activism at colleges nationwide. The students’ attorneys plan to appeal.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Marya Bangee, far right, a spokeswoman for the Irvine 11 supporters, puts her arm around a family member during a news conference after 10 Muslim students were sentenced to three years’ probation, 56 hours of community service and fines for their misdemeanor convictions.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — The Muslim students, meeting with one of their attorneys after the verdict, faced up to a year in jail on the misdemeanor charges but were spared jail time by the judge, who said they were acting on their beliefs in disrupting Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine on Feb. 8, 2010.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — The Muslim students stare at the jury after being found guilty of conspiring to disrupt and then disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador at UC Irvine last year.The verdict took the jury of six men and six women a little more than two days to reach.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Mohammad Uns Qureashi sheds a tear after hearing the verdict. The other defendants showed little emotion: One bit his lip, another closed his eyes and a third winced. But a number of those in attendance wept, while more than a dozen stormed out in anger.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Laila Treki, the mother of defendant Asaad Mohamedidris Traina, gets a hug outside the Santa Ana courthouse after hearing her son had been convicted. Also found guilty were Bahgat Akari, Uns Qureashi, Mohamed Mohy-Eldeen Abdelgany, Aslam Abbasi Akhtar, Joseph Tamim Haider, Taher Mutaz Herzallah, Shaheen Waleed Nassar, Ali Mohammad Sayeed and Osama Ahmen Shabaik.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Family members and friends of the Irvine 11 defendants gather outside the courthouse after hearing the guilty verdicts. The case generated national debate over free speech rights. It centered on conflicting views of who was being censored — the Israeli envoy who had been invited to the campus, or the students who took turns shouting him down as he tried to give a speech on U.S.-Israeli relations.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — A group gathers outside the Santa Ana courthouse for a news conference after the guilty verdict. Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said the students’ behavior amounted to censorship and “thuggery.” “In a civilized society,” he said, “we cannot allow lawful assemblies to be shut down by a small group of people using the heckler’s veto.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Two women support each other outside the Santa Ana courthouse after the verdict was read. “Absolutely unbelievable,” Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, said of the verdict. “I believe the heart of America has died today. This is clearly an indication that Muslims are permanent foreigners, at least in Orange County.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
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Santa Ana — Hami Habbas covers his mouth in protest during a news conference outside the Santa Ana courthouse. Some Jewish community leaders lauded the verdict. The planned disruption “crossed the moral, social and intellectual line of civility and tolerance,” said Shalom C. Elcott, president and chief executive of the local Jewish Federation & Family Services.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
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