(http://www.legal-project.org/)
Islamic Extremist Targets Facebook Users
by Daniel Huff
_FrumForum_
(http://www.frumforum.com/islamic-extremist-targets-facebook-users)
October 29, 2010
_http://www.legal-project.org/866/islamic-extremist-targets-facebook-users_
(http://www.legal-project.org/866/islamic-extremist-targets-facebook-users)
Court documents filed last week reveal Islamic extremists have obtained
personal contact information on members of the defiant Facebook group
"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." Zachary Chesser, who provided the information,
pled
guilty to "communicating threats" and renounced jihad, but the damage was
done. Prosecutors say he "seriously endangered the lives of innocent people
who will remain at risk for many years to come."
This lasting effect makes it all the more frustrating that authorities did
not charge him sooner. He had made very similar threats against the
producers of South Park weeks before. The case highlights the urgent need for
better legal tools to protect free speech from extremist intimidation.
On April 15, Chesser, acting through the website RevolutionMuslim.com,
"warned" the creators of South Park that they would "likely" be executed for
producing an episode lampooning Muslim outrage over depictions of Mohammed.
Chesser's post provided their photos and work address and included audio of
radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki calling for the assassination of anyone who
has "defamed" Mohammed. As was widely reported, Comedy Central, which
carries the show, succumbed to the threat and heavily censored the episode.
Nevertheless, Chesser was not charged. NYPD Commissioner Kelly called
Chesser's posting a threat but said authorities did not believe legally it
"rises
to a crime right now."
Facing no legal consequences after his first success, Chesser turned the
same intimidation tactics on a fresh target.
Facebook users, determined to defy the intimidation tactics that
vanquished Comedy Central, had started the group "Everybody Draw Mohammed
Day." The
theory was safety in numbers. If thousands of people all committed to draw
Mohammed on a single day, there would be so many potential targets fanatics
would be unable to focus their retribution efforts effectively on any
single one.
It failed because even though thousands of people joined the group,
Chesser was content to start small.
In May of 2010, he obtained personal contact information on 11 members of
the group and posted it to a jihadi website saying the data was "just a
place to start." As before, he provided the addresses of his targets against
the backdrop of Al-Awlaki's recorded sermon and examples of artists targeted
for insulting Mohammed. He even proffered his own reflections on the
propriety of executing them in accordance with Islamic law. Yet again, he was
not immediately prosecuted.
Instead, he was finally arrested July 11th on independent charges of
providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was
intercepted at Kennedy airport, with his infant son in tow, on his way to
Somalia to
join al-Shabaab and "engage in violent jihad."
It was only in light of this subsequent arrest that federal prosecutors
felt comfortable characterizing Chesser's earlier activities as meeting the
threshold for true threats in violation of federal law. On October 18th,
they amended the charges against him to include the threats relating to South
Park and Facebook. He pled guilty on all counts.
It seems prosecutors did not act earlier, because without Chesser's
subsequent behavior, they did not have sufficient evidence of intent to
threaten
to meet the heightened burden of proof required in criminal cases. In the
meantime, Chesser did deep damage to free speech rights.
US Attorney Neil MacBride warns Chesser's "solicitation of extremists to
murder U.S. citizens … caused people throughout the country to fear speaking
out – even in jest – lest they also be labeled as enemies who deserved to
be killed."
This might have been avoided if Federal law provided the same protection
to free speech rights that it already gives to abortion rights.
In the 1990's, abortion providers faced the same sorts of extremist
threats that cartoonists and authors face now. In response, Congress passed
the
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) which not only prohibits
threats against persons exercising abortion rights, but permits victims to
sue for damages.
The provision for civil suits with preset damages is key. It empowers
victims of intimidation to act as private attorneys general to defend their
rights in a setting with a lower burden of proof.
Indeed, in a 2002 case with facts similar to the Chesser case, the Ninth
Circuit found a fringe pro-life group had threatened abortion doctors by
distributing their photos and contact information. The doctors had sued under
the FACE Act and obtained a substantial jury award.
With only minor modifications, FACE can be expanded to cover threats
against free speech. The original passed by solid bipartisan margins in both
houses. All 10 federal circuit courts who have heard challenges to FACE have
upheld it. To forestall any concerns regarding federalism or unintended
consequences, Congress can include a sunset provision.
Had such a law been in place in April, Chesser's first victims could have
immediately mired him in costly, time consuming civil litigation. The net
effect would have been both to distract and deter him from making further
threats and preparing for jihad. At least 11 Facebook users would "like"
this.
Daniel Huff is Director of the _Legal Project_
(http://www.legal-project.org/) at the Middle East Forum and a former counsel
to the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
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