I follow Mona Eltahawy on Twitter and she comes across as a smart, committed and principled woman.
She is on trial for, justifiably in my opinion, defacing a bigoted poster.
I have covered this before, these posters were instigated by Pam Geller, who readers will remember is a great supporter of the EDL and is trying to raise money for its jailed leader, Stephen Lennon.
Ms. Eltahawy was arrested in September 2012 and held for some 22 hours.
The Guardian reports:
“Writer and activist Mona Eltahawy appeared in court on Thursday on charges of criminal mischief for spray-painting an anti-Muslim poster in a New York City subway station.
Eltahawy was offered a plea deal but chose to go to trial for charges of criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of an instrument of graffiti.
“I actually look forward to standing trial, because I acted out of principle and I’m proud of what I did and I will spray-paint that ad again in a second,” Eltahawy told the Guardian.
…Eltahawy was arrested in September for spray-painting a poster paid for by the Anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative. The posters appeared in 10 New York subway stations and read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” and “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”
Following her arrest, Eltahawy was held in jail for 22 hours, longer than her detention in Egypt during the Arab spring. During the protests, she suffered two broken bones during arrest by Egyptian riot police.
Eltahawy said she was treated fairly in court proceedings but she and her lawyer believe her 22 hours overnight in jail were unjust.
“I don’t think I was treated fairly overall, because one of the points my attorney is making and has requested paperwork to look into is why four other people who were arrested with me that same night – who put stickers on an ad at another subway station – why they received DATs [Desk Appearance Tickets] and were sent home and I spent the night in jail.”
I hope she gets off and that these awful posters are taken down.
Soupy One 