US court jails second man for Revolution Muslim web postings

Sunday, June 24, 2012

A US federal court in Virginia has sent a second man to prison for online postings linked to Revolution Muslim. New York Islam convert Jesse Curtis Morton received an eleven-and-a-half-year sentence yesterday after his co-defendant was jailed in February.

Morton, 33, also known as Younus Abdullah Muhammed, wrote alongside fellow convert Zachary Chesser, 20, on a now-defunct website that promoted violence against perceived enemies of Islam. Targets included those behind depictions of the Prophet Muhammed, which are widely held to be offensive to Islamic beliefs.

Morton and Chesser threatened people including the writers of satirical TV show South Park, which had shown Muhammed in a bear suit, and an artist behind May 2010's Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. The duo posted addresses for South Park writers, urging readers to "pay them a visit".

Virginia-based Chesser admitted his role in court in October 2010 and received a 25-year sentence, with the discrepancy between the pair's sentences attributed to two attempts by Chesser to head to Somalia and become an al-Shabbab member. Morton was arrested last year in Rabat, Morocco and extradited back to the US, pleading guilty in February.

The defence wanted Morton's sentence kept below five years, and he had apologised for having "contributed to a clash of civilizations" with his support of violence. The prosecutor contended Morton had abused his right to free speech by threatening murder to "chill" the expressions of others.

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Sources

"‘South Park terrorist’ jailed for 11 years" — The Scotsman, June 23, 2012
"Muslim Jesse Curtis Morton jailed over South Park threats" — BBC News Online, June 22, 2012
Reuters. "Man jailed for threatening South Park writers" — The Guardian, June 22, 2012

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