Atty. For Pro-Palestinian Columbia Student: My Client Is Accused of ‘Engaging in Lawful Speech,’ He Never Advocated for Violence

EXCERPT:

WESSLER: “Of course not. Our client is accused by the government of one thing. That is engaging in lawful speech during protests, in advocacy, the kind of thing that everyone in this country has an unequivocal right to do. By the government’s own charging document, that’s what they accuse him of doing, engaging in lawful speech. Their argument is that they just get to lock him up anyway because they disagree with the content of his speech about human rights violations in Gaza and the human rights of Palestinians. That’s the First Amendment problem in this case — active in many of the debates and protests that have been going on across this country about one of the most pressing issues of our day. And he’s being punished for that. And that is just a violation of his constitutional rights.”