Posted on 11/21/2005 4:17:16 PM PST by detsaoT
Virginia Dismisses All Charges Against Tariq Khan By Amy Hamilton
Broadside News Editor
In open court Monday, Nov. 14, the Commonwealth of Virginia dropped all charges against George Mason University student Tariq Khan.
Khan, a sociology major and military veteran, was arrested in the Johnson Center Sept. 29 for trespassing and disorderly conduct after standing next to a recruiter’s table wearing a sign that read, “Recruiters Lie, Don’t Be Deceived” and allegedly handing out literature inside the building. After an internal investigation, Mason recommended to the Commonwealth Attorney that the charges be dropped.
Rebecca Glenberg, Khan’s legal counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union, said that “it certainly would have been hard for them to go forward” without the university’s support.
Khan still wants to hear an apology from the university. “They’re acting like they’re doing me a favor when, in reality, they violated my rights, and they need to apologize for that,” he said.
Khan and Glenberg were prepared to argue the case on First Amendment grounds because, Khan said, “this was such an obvious, clear-cut case of First Amendment rights being violated.” Glenberg said that “we did our research on the First Amendment aspect of the case so that we would be able to make that argument.” The Commonwealth Attorney could not be reached for comment.
The conflict did not end with the dropping of the charges. Chief of University Police Michael Lynch said, “The police department did not recommend the charges be dropped because the arrest was improper or unwarranted; the request was made because here at Mason we have an internal judicial structure that is more appropriate for dealing with these types of infractions.”
He said that the situation would be dealt with internally by the university and that a number of students involved in the incident have already been referred to the Dean of Students. Khan said that he has not received any notice of his own referral. “That’s what they’re saying, but I haven’t heard anything about that,” he said.
Daniel Walsh, Executive Director of University Relations, said that a number of students involved were referred to the Dean of Students, but he was not able to confirm whether or not Khan was among them.
While the possibility of a return suit against the university has been suggested, Khan has yet to make any public statement regarding his plans. Glenberg said that “that’s all stuff that we’re going to have to talk about down the road.”
IIRC, "FIRE" which is a pretty conservative group that stands up for the free speech rights of conservatives was getting after GMU for this case.
Now, if there are any bloggers/freepers on the spot (as opposed to hypothesizers, which is all I have seen on earlier threads)who have eyewitness accounts of what the fellow was doing to be disruptive, then I'd listen carefully to that. Otherwise, it's "sauce for the goose" -- just this time it's one of theirs. We'd be screaming bloody murder if it was one of ours that was punished for the same conduct.
I want Khan gone. He does not belong in civil society.
As far as I'm concerned, his behavior was just a continuation of the Islamofascist attack against this community that started with the hijacked planes on 9/11.
Too many Moslems have this idea that they can use intimdation and arrogance to make us back up and cower.
They are wrong. This punk needs to be treated like the criminal he really is, and the University officials he's backed down ought to be fired immediately.
Well there is a faction in the U.S. that would be thrilled if we didn't have a military at all.
Screw them.
"Well there is a faction in the U.S. that would be thrilled if we didn't have a military at all.
Screw them."
No, just tell them to go to France. :o)
I would be interested too. I just cannot imagine him having the stones to physically assault a marine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.