A Tulsa man who is charged with making threats against a local mosque and is being held in a mental health facility said he is not a violent person and that his message has been misinterpreted. Jesse Quinn Harrison, 33, was charged Dec. 28 with transmitting a threatening letter and with malicious intimidation or harassment under Oklahoma's hate-crimes statute. The charges allege that Harrison sent a letter to the Islamic Peace Academy "with the intent to intimidate."How can they judge his intent? Here's his video:
The charges also allege that a video showing Harrison "smearing pork on the Quran and (on a picture of) an Islamic religious figure and grilling those items" was posted online by Harrison with the intent of producing "violence directed to others because of their religious belief."
...and you can see that while it may be tasteless and offensive, he doesn't say anything in it about doing violence to anyone.
But Harrison told the Tulsa World that although he recognizes that the video could be offensive to many, it was not his intent to harass Muslims. He said his goal was to "shine a light on the hypocrisy and fear that drives so much hate" and that the video is an exercise of his First Amendment right to free speech. Harrison said he voluntarily admitted himself to the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health on Dec. 18 but has been held there against his will since the charges were filed Dec. 28. He is scheduled for a mental-health hearing Monday in Tulsa County District Court.Click on the title to read the whole story at Jihad Watch.
4 comments:
this is freedom of speach at its finest..
if anyone can burn the American Flag.. then ANYONE can BURN a FUCK'n Koran...
some advice... if you smear the pages with pig fat..lard
it burns a lot better...
I agree with you, BR.
Let me add, when one burns a Koran one must remember that the Koran must undergo Wudhu before it is burned. Urine, being a sterile substance, is a good purification tool.
Hate-crime charges dropped in wake of jury's mental-health verdict
"Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris said that while Harrison is “going about it in a way I don’t concur with,” it would be difficult to prove that Harrison intended violence toward anyone but possibly himself.
“The issues to be litigated in the criminal case were addressed in the mental-health case,” Harris said.
He added that before he made his decision to drop the charges, he spoke with leaders at the Islamic Society of Tulsa, two of whom testified Wednesday.
“Harrison — who had been a patient at the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health — still faced the criminal charges, he was arrested and booked into the Tulsa Jail after the verdict was returned. After the charges were dismissed, he was released from jail Friday evening, jail records state. . . They did not believe Mr. Harrison’s incarceration would serve long-term purposes,” Harris said."
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