Sign Petition to Help Stop the Prosecution of the Irvine 11

March 4, 2011

MPAC has started a petition started urging the Orange County district attorney to drop the prosecution against the 11 University of California, Irvine (UCI), students who last year protested the speech of the Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.

The students already have been subjected to administrative proceedings and possible sanctions by the University administration. The Muslim Student Union at UCI was suspended for one quarter and faces probation for two academic years. Despite the University's internal proceedings, the DA has subpoenaed six UCI Muslim students to testify before a grand jury.

A recent article in the Jewish Journal cites the inequality of the DA’s actions stating that similar protests have been organized with Jewish groups with opposite conequences.

“Some Americans don’t want Muslim voices to be widely heard or legitimized; they feel safer when Muslims are met with a repressive response,” the article said. “This should trouble all of us. How can we possibly have an honest conversation about a deeply important foreign policy issue when the specter of law enforcement harassment and life-altering criminalization hangs over the heads of Arabs and Muslims who speak up for what they believe in?

Please sign the petition and distribute it your friends and families. The UCI students need your help finding justice.

MPAC’s Director of Policy & Programming Edina Lekovic will also take part in a press conference and call-to-action event tomorrow, “Stand With The UCI 11” on the UCI campus. The event will start at 6:30 p.m.