FIX EXCLUSIVES
Free speech group, pro-Israel activists dispute whether journalists wrongly detained
The University of Maryland recently dropped three of four charges against two journalists from the Muslim student newspaper Al-Hikmah who were detained by campus police while covering a pro-Israel event.
The dropped charges include disrupting others’ lawful freedom of expression, engaging in disorderly conduct that interferes with university or community activity, and intentionally giving the university false information. The journalists still face a charge for failing to cooperate with university officials and law enforcement, The Diamondback reported.
The decision follows calls from two advocacy organizations and more than 30 faculty and staff members from the university’s journalism school to dismiss the disruption-related charges.
However, the advocacy organizations and pro-Israel event organizers disagreed over whether the discipline was warranted.
The event organizers told The College Fix that the journalists were rightfully charged for refusing to show valid ID amidst a protest outside the Students Supporting Israel event. Meanwhile, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression claims the school violated the journalists’ First Amendment rights.
FIRE stated in a news release that Riona Sheikh and Rumaysa Drissi were simply filming the protest outside the event when they were unfairly detained.
Video from both the reporters and police shows Sheikh identifying herself as a student journalist, but an officer responded that it “doesn’t mean anything” and accused her of shouting and disrupting the event, according to the free speech group.
FIRE alleged the footage does not show either reporter yelling. Despite this, the university charged Sheikh and Drissi with engaging in disruptive conduct.
“It’s like we’re being treated as if we just did something else entirely,” Sheikh said, according to FIRE. “It makes me worry about our coverage of pro-Palestinian protests in the future.”
“FIRE is concerned the University of Maryland brought conduct charges of interference and disruption against these student journalists,” the group’s Student Press Counsel, Marie McMullan, said.
“A university should not investigate or punish students for protected expression — such as merely photographing and filming,” she said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations echoed these claims in a news release calling on UMD to drop the charges.
“The punitive charges handed to Riona Sheikh and Rumaysa Drissi are a violation of press freedom and free speech,” CAIR Legal Defense Fund attorney John Fossum said.
“These student journalists were not disrupting anything—they were reporting. If the University of Maryland truly values fostering an environment for the free exchange of ideas, they will dismiss these absurd charges,” he said.
On the other hand, the SSI chapter president told The College Fix the journalists were rightfully detained.
“2 girls from the Al-Hikmah newspaper showed up and asked if they are allowed to cover the event. I told them there was an RSVP form. The RSVP was very public and wasn’t limited to anybody. Had they RSVP’d a few hours before I would have said yes,” President Uriel Appel said.
The girls asked again if they could take photos of the event, and Appel declined their request.
“People were still taking pictures of us after explicitly being told no,” Appel said.
“They were detained because they weren’t complying. They weren’t willing to provide IDs. Not as journalists. They didn’t even want to prove they were students,” he said.
He called the behavior of the journalists “gross” and said they made the IDF veterans and students “feel uncomfortable.”
Leadership Institute Field Representative Danny Purcell attended the event and sent The Fix exclusive footage of the incident.
Although Purcell said he was unsure which individuals in the video were the journalists, FIRE’s news release identifies Sheikh as the person filming on her cellphone and Drissi as the one taking photos with a camera.
Purcell said the two journalists were participating in the protest. The video appears to only show them filming.
Appel said his group brought three Israel Defense Force veterans to campus to share their firsthand accounts of the Hamas-led war. The event drew calls for protest and cancellation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Students for Justice in Palestine, but proceeded as planned.
Officers stood in front of the doors to guard the event as protestors gathered outside.
“When it first started, I didn’t actually hear what they were saying. I just heard screaming from the hallway. I heard rhythmic screaming. It got louder and louder as they were getting closer,” Appel said.
Appel noted that before the protest started, one of the police officers told him they had an unmarked vehicle in the back ready to escort the speakers out if necessary.
He added that the university has the students’ best interests at heart and praised the police officers for keeping the event safe.
Christopher Lord, UMD’s associate general counsel, stated the school is not charging the students for acting as journalists, but for participating in the active disruption of an event, according to the student newspaper, The Diamondback.
In a letter responding to FIRE, “Lord wrote that ‘evidence indicates’ that they may have been part of the disruption of the Oct. 21 event, whether they were shouting or not,” according to the newspaper.
The Fix reached out to Riona Sheikh and Rumaysa Drissi for comment, but did not receive a reply.
