Eleven Muslim-American students have pleaded not guilty to charges that they disrupted a speech delivered by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States at University of California Irvine. The students claim that the charges exhibit unfair discrimination towards Muslims who were exercising their right to dissent.
The students were arrested in February, 2010 after heckling Michael Oren during the beginning of his speech, shouting out "killers" and "how many Palestinians did you kill?" the Associated Press reported. On Friday, the students were arraigned in the Orange County Superior Court on misdemeanor conspiracy to disturb a meeting and misdemeanor disturbance of a meeting. Though Oren was able to continue his speech, he was forced to forgo the concluding question-and-answer session.
