US Attorney drops charges against AMP staffers

Charges against American Muslims for Palestine staffers Taher Herzallah and Kareem El-Hosseiny have been dropped by the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Herzallah and El-Hosseiny’s attorney was notified by Stephen Rickard, Deputy Chief of the misdemeanors section in the U.S. Attorney’s office, that a nolle prosequi (formal notice of abandonment) was filed, the charges have been dropped and the case is closed.

“The United States of America, by and through its attorney, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, hereby notifies the court and the defense that the government is entering a nolle prosequi in this case, thereby causing the information to be dismissed without prejudice,” said the letter.

Herzallah and El-Hosseiny were arrested with four other protesters for disrupting David Friedman’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and demanding the rejection of his nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Herzallah and El-Hosseiny, the only two Arab and Muslim protesters, faced “discriminatory” chargers, while others did not.

They appeared in D.C. Superior court on April 20 for a status hearing, after rejecting a plea offered on March 28. AMP, IfNotNow, Code Pink, and many others felt as though they were targeted for selective prosecution and that these are discriminatory charges on grounds that they were based on racial, religious, and ethnic bias.