THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 236, November 4, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ISLAMIC EXTREMIST TARGETS FACEBOOK USERS
By Daniel Huff
THE CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN AMERICA VERSUS THE ACTIVITIES OF
ISLAMIST FIFTH COLUMNISTS OPERATING WITHIN THE COUNTRY -- THE URGENT NEED FOR BETTER LEGAL TOOLS TO
DEFEND THE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS OF U.S. CITIZENS AGAINST THE THREATS & INTIMIDATION OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS --
THE CHANGES IN FEDERAL CRIMINAL & CIVIL LAW REQUIRED TO MAKE AVAILABLE SUCH PROCEDURAL PROTECTIONS
FULL STORY:
Court documents filed in October, 2010, 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, 2010, 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 Muhammad. 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" Muhammad. 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 Ray Kelly called Chesser's posting a threat, but said
authorities did not believe that, 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 Muhammad on a single day, there would be so many potential targets that 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 Muhammad. He even proffered his own
reflections on the propriety of executing them in accordance with the Shari'a (Islamic law). Yet again, he was not
immediately prosecuted.
Instead, he was finally arrested July 11, 2010, 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 U.S. federal law. On October 18, 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.
U.S. 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 U.S. 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 of Congress. 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.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Correctness, Censorship, Thought Control:
Supression of Unacceptable Views & Opinions
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Islamic Terrorism & U.S. Homeland Security
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Daniel Huff is the Director of the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum. He previously served as Counsel to the U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee, handling a number of matters related to American national security and to civil and
criminal law. As a member of the staff of the Judiciary Committee, one of his priorities was the Free Speech Protection
Act, which was designed to combat "libel tourism," the practice of intimidating American authors by suing them for
libel in foreign jurisdictions less protective of freedom of speech and expression than is the U.S.A.
Prior to his service in Washington, D.C., Huff was an associate at McKinsey & Company in New York, N.Y. A
member of the New York Bar, Huff is a graduate of Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske
Stone Scholar.
The foregoing article by Daniel Huff was originally published in FrumForum, October 29, 2010, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2772/islamic-extremist-facebook)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
November 4, 2010
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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