A UC Santa Cruz student is suing the university over receiving a temporary ban from campus last spring following the student’s participation in disruptive pro-Palestine protests on the university’s campus.
Laaila Irshad is featured as the primary plaintiff in the lawsuit filed against the university, where she is suing on behalf of herself, two students, and a professor, who were also banned from the university’s campus following their involvement in pro-Palestine protests last spring, according to KQED.
Irshad has said that the university has targeted her in retaliation for her acts of protest, with Irshad claiming that the university has been attempting to silence her right to free speech.
The lawsuit comes as Irshad had her phone seized by police while she was outside of her residence on campus during a fire drill. The police seized her phone as a result of having a warrant to obtain the device, with the warrant allowing for her phone’s seizure due to allegations that Irshad engaged in vandalism.
The warrant for Irshad’s phone was issued on September 25, two weeks after Irshad and her co-plaintiffs filed against the university. The warrant was issued based on a sealed affidavit that outlined probably cause to believe that Irshad’s phone contains evidence that she committed a felony.
Chessie Thacher, an ACLU of Northern California attorney, and council representing Irshad, claims that the search warrant displayed a picture of Irshad on television discussing the case. Thacher stated that “[t]his just feels like it has a retaliatory motive or intent, or an attempt to kind of say to Ms. Irshad: ‘Proceed with caution because we are intent on silencing your speech.’”
Irshad and her attorneys are now petitioning for the court to void the warrant, obtain her phone, and have an ordered destruction of any information seized or obtained as a result of the warrant. Irshad’s legal team is also hoping to have the affidavit unsealed in a coming hearing in December.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
