Student arrested for "Quran desecration"

[Nemesis6]

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070731/NATION/107310034/1002

A former Pace University student faces hate-crime charges for taking paperback copies of the Koran from the campus library on two occasions last fall and disposing of the Muslim holy book in toilets. Stanislav Shmulevich, a Ukrainian immigrant, was arraigned Sunday in New York Criminal Court on two charges of criminal mischief in the fourth degree as a hate crime. ...
University officials filed a vandalism complaint with police after the first incident on Oct. 12, when ?a copy of the Koran was found in a public toilet? at the Manhattan campus that ?was covered in feces.? A second copy of the Koran was found in a toilet Nov. 21. When questioned by police, Mr. Shmulevich, 23, ?admitted to committing said acts? and ?that he committed the acts out of anger toward a group of Muslim students with whom he had had a recent disagreement,? the criminal complaint said.

?We reported it initially as an act of vandalism, then the police hate-crime unit came over and decided to pursue it as a hate crime,? said Chris Corey, Pace University spokesman, adding that he was ?not at liberty? to discuss the investigation or how Mr. Shmulevich was implicated.

It gets better. The radical Islamist front group CAIR got involved and started pressuring the school and the student got charged with "hate crimes". ****ing ridiculous. A spokesman for the university said that they were never contacted by CAIR. He lied -

CAIR-NY TO TAKE PART IN MTG ON QURAN DESECRATION

(NEW YORK, NY, 10/3/06) - On Tuesday, October 3, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) will participate in a town hall meeting at Pace University to discuss a recent incident in which a Quran, Islam?s revealed text, was found in the toilet in a campus men?s room. CAIR-NY is calling on the university to treat the incident as a possible hate crime.

WHAT: Town Hall Meeting at Pace University
WHEN: Tuesday, October 3, 2006, 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Schimmel Center, Pace University (NYC campus)

CAIR-NY sees this incident as evidence of the growing phenomenon of Islamophobia in the United States and will encourage Pace University to hold more town hall meetings for the student population in order to create a better understanding of Islam.

CONTACT: Afsheen Shamsi, CAIR-NY Communications Director

It won't be long before we have to add "the Prophet" before we say "Muhammed" --- OH DAMN IT! Look: When you say "Muhammed", you have say "Sallalahu aleyhi wasalah" after you mention his name. It means "peace be upon him".

 

[Qonfused]

All he needs to say is, "I was protesting."

 

[Geogaddi]

So is hate crime some form of supercrime?

 

[Tyguy]

How can a person who stole books be charged with a hate crime? All i see is theft and freedom of speech. What would happen if a religious nut threw a science book in the toilet?

 

[kirovman]

Science must destroy religion. And I think I know how.

 

[co05]

Science must destroy religion. And I think I know how.

Build a super-laser targeted to destroy all holy buildings worldwide?

 

[Nemesis6]

It was initially reported as vandalism. But I think I know who reported it as such, and obviously the decision to do so is political. This won't stand up anywhere. The MSA and CAIR can shove their Qurans up their asses, because they're not gonna win this. My response to CAIR and the MSA: [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsYhpNKYKH8[/YOUTUBE]

After that, the Quran is not pretty kareem. This should be the response every time something like this happens. The more they complain, the more Qurans we deface.

 

[theotherguy]

For once I agree with you, Nemesis.

It would have only been a hate crime if he had harassed the Muslim students themselves or their homes or families. This is just stealing and destroying public property (since they came from a library)

 

[PvtRyan]

Bwehehe, Youtube comments never fail to amuse and disturb:

mysteriousromaboy (2 hours ago) Marked as spam
hey bitch,delete it,or i will delete u from this world

u dont even know what islam is,they learn u that islam is baaad,but the truth is diffrent,and u will know that sooooooon,or in hell

die

Islam isn't bad, but this guy will delete you from the world for saying it!

 

[Absinthe]

Bwehehe, Youtube comments never fail to amuse and disturb:


Islam isn't bad, but this guy will delete you from the world for saying it!

"Death to those who call Islam a religion of violence."

 

[Laivasse]

Islam isn't bad, but this guy will delete you from the world for saying it!

It's ridiculous, but this thing seems to come up quite often as a response from the muslim community. Stuff like 'you're just ignorant and causing hate - not all muslims are violent extremists, so you shouldn't insult the rest of us by tarring us with the same brush and inflaming hate. So yeah, you should take this vid down or else 1.2 billion muslims will be after you and want to kill you.'

 

[Raxxman]

"Death to those who call Islam a religion of violence."

so sad, but so true.

However I must add that almost all the killing that goes on in the name of Islam has very little to do with religion.

 

[Absinthe]

so sad, but so true.

However I must add that almost all the killing that goes on in the name of Islam has very little to do with religion.

I disagree. A lot of it has to do with religion, even if it's not the primary cause. There are plenty who are martyrs for the sake of being martyrs, and many more who frame the world within an Islamic view with dire consequences.

 

[Tyguy]

Truth ^^

 

[staticprimer]

How is this any different than white supremacists burning crosses?

 

[Jintor]

"Death to those who call Islam a religion of violence."

Oh, lol.

 

[The Monkey]

How is this any different than white supremacists burning crosses?

What does that have to do with anything?

It seems like it's impossible to have a critical discussion of Islam without someone saying "Well, Christianity it also bad, so you should stop criticizing Islam".

 

[Operational]

Seems to me that he did it because he had an argument with Muslims, not because he was racist against Muslims. Fine line perhaps but I wouldn't judge it a hate crime. If he had an argument with some Hindus they might have found two copies of the Śruti covered in shit instead.
Either way it is still a retarded way to deal with having an argument.

 

[Lt. Drebin]

How is this any different than white supremacists burning crosses?

Well, I think perception and extravagance for one.

A burning cross is unmistakably hard to miss and, is probabaly much more offensive in the sense that many more people are likely to see it and know what is happening.

The Quran in the shitter is a lot different, but no less offensive to any Muslim that witnesses it. BUT, how many folks do you think went into the toilet, saw a book in it, saw that said book was covered in shit, and simply moved on to the next crapper. I'd say 9/10. EVENTUALLY, someone had the common sense to tell a school official there's a book in the shitter. Someone found out it was the Quran and then who the culprit was.

Is a burning cross any less offensive to a catholic vs a Quran in the shitter to a Muslim??? No. BUT, is a burning cross more likely to offend more people in this country?? Hell yes it is. Is it a hate crime of sorts?? Yes. But, should this be treated the same as white racist beating a black person because he doesn't like the color of his skin??? No. Just my $.02

 

[staticprimer]

What does that have to do with anything?

It seems like it's impossible to have a critical discussion of Islam without someone saying "Well, Christianity it also bad, so you should stop criticizing Islam".

My point was to those who said that this isn't a hate crime, which it is.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

He stole a book and trashed it. Take away his library card and make him clean up the toilet. That the book happened to belong to a group of people who pray to some invisible man in the sky is of no consequence. Now, if he was mocking the kids for them being muslim, that's a bit different. He should have a talk with the principle and, in a perfect world, get his head shoved down the same toilet for a while.

 

[Absinthe]

My point was to those who said that this isn't a hate crime, which it is.

What bullshit. Can't be assed to type my own response out right now, so I'll just post this.

Shmulevich certainly committed vandalism for clogging a public toilet, so it's clear that he cannot and should not get off without any sort of punishment. It also appears that Shmulevich didn't do this with his own copies of the Qur'an, so that's additional charges of theft and more vandalism. No matter how you cut it, Shmulevich is in trouble and committed several crimes. But where does the "hate crime" come in? Shmulevich wasn't committing a crime against another person, class, or organization which could be enhanced by a hate crime statute.

The question is whether the action was designed to send a message of intimidation to a group or was simply regarded as offensive by the group. When someone spray paints swastikas on a synagogue, the message is one of intimidation and harassment - it's someone trying to tell Jews that they are unwelcome and should worry about their safety. That's why a hate crime enhancement would be applied to such an act as compared to "John luvs Suzie" spray painted on a bridge.

When it comes to burning, flushing, or otherwise desecrating a Qur'an, though, there does not appear to be any intent or effect of sending any analogous message to Muslims. On the other hand, it is true that Muslims find such acts highly offensive - for them, such treatment of the Qur'an is more similar to such handling of Jesus than of the Bible. Making it a "hate crime" to offend someone or some group while committing a crime is a good way of preserving the favored, privileged status of some groups over others. I think we all know that there would be no "hate crime" enhancement if the book had been Dawkins' The God Delusion.

- Austin Cline

 

[staticprimer]

Well then, it needs to be determine if his intentions were intimidation.

 

[MTGunNut]

Damn this is F*cked up on SO many levels. Hate crimes is THE stupidest charge EVAR!! I wished this guy would have done this with his own qaran, so as to avoid the vandalism charge. Have we really pussified down to the point where we CARE about people's feelings to the point that you can get arrested for it. SAD times we live in. ;(

 

[Absinthe]

Well then, it needs to be determine if his intentions were intimidation.

He dumped them into toilet, presumably on his own. That's a pretty private affair unless he was trying to channel HAET WAVES from his unholy act towards the nearest mosque.

 

[MTGunNut]

Well then, it needs to be determine if his intentions were intimidation.

so what if they were. He didnt HURT anyone physically, so what does it matter?

 

[Absinthe]

It matters because it's intimidation. It's threats of violence and hostility. It directly imposes on a freedom to pursue happiness. Hate crimes are as valid as any other.

But this is not a hate crime. There is no intimidation present here. The most we can surmise is that he doesn't like the Quran, so he desecrated a couple of them. Remove this from the context of theft and vandalism and you'll see how ridiculous this charge is. Can I be charged with a hate crime if I threw a copy of the Quran into the toilet in my house or a public toilet? Just because such acts may be considered highly offensive to some people is not reason enough to classify this as an act of intimidation.

A real hate crime would be if he vandalized a Muslim's house with pig blood. You might even have a case if he'd taken the desecrated book and shoved it into a Muslim's backpack. In such scenarios, the offender in question would have crossed the line into somebody else's personal property, space, and life. But Shmulevich did not do this.

 

[MTGunNut]

It matters because it's intimidation. It's threats of violence and hostility. It directly imposes on a freedom to pursue happiness. Hate crimes are as valid as any other.

But this is not a hate crime. There is no intimidation present here. The most we can surmise is that he doesn't like the Quran, so he desecrated a couple of them. Remove this from the context of theft and vandalism and you'll see how ridiculous this charge is. Can I be charged with a hate crime if I threw a copy of the Quran into the toilet in my house or a public toilet? Just because such acts may be considered highly offensive to some people is not reason enough to classify this as an act of intimidation.

A real hate crime would be if he vandalized a Muslim's house with pig blood. You might even have a case if he'd taken the desecrated book and shoved it into a Muslim's backpack. In such scenarios, the offender in question would have crossed the line into somebody else's personal property, space, and life. But Shmulevich did not do this.

in my opinion, what you described SHOULD be simply vandalism.

 

[K e r b e r o s]

It seems like it's impossible to have a critical discussion of Islam without someone saying "Well, Christianity it also bad, so you should stop criticizing Islam".

Owned FTW.