Ten students were found guilty of conspiracy and disruption for protesting during a speech by Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the US, at the University of California Irvine in February 2010, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday. Both the prosecution and defence cited the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, in their arguments.
The students’ attorneys maintained that their protest was nothing out of the ordinary, likening their disruption to historic campaigns for civil rights. The prosecution argued that the students conspired to censor Oren. Charges were dropped for one of the students when he agreed to 40 hours of community service.
The other 10 were sentenced to three years informal probation, without jail time. The case sparked a national debate over free speech, and the students became widely known as the “Irvine 11.”
