March 4, 2003
The lawyer for a Brooklyn man accused of E-mailing threats to kill Jews said yesterday the Palestinian-born U.S. citizen was merely exercising freedom of speech.
Fowad Assed, 33, faces up to 10 years in prison for threatening to kill Jews with explosives. The alleged threats came in three E-mails he fired off to a Jewish Defense League Web site last April. But Assed's attorney Deborah Colson told jurors in Brooklyn Federal Court that although the E-mails may be "foul" and "angry," that's not a crime. "We have freedom of speech in this country," said Colson in her opening statement.
Links: nydailynews.com