Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped the charges against seven student protesters at the University of Michigan, citing legal delays and controversy surrounding the US case.
Monday’s decision concludes an incident that began in May 2024 when a student who pleaded not guilty was accused of police trespassing and resistance while attending a pro-Palestinian campus protest.
“We feel that we have established that this case has been dismissed,” said Jamil Khuja, a member of the student defense team. “These individuals had committed no crime at all. They were protesting and exercising their right to engage in political speeches on public property.”
Despite the charges being dropped and growing criticism of the incident, Nessel defended her decision on Monday to pursue felony charges against students. “A reasonable ju-san would be found guilty of the alleged crime.”
However, Nessel added in a statement that he dropped the charges almost a year later because he did not believe these cases were a wise use of resources in my department.
Hundreds of students were arrested amid the waves of camps on the pro-Palestinian campus that swept the US last year amid Israel’s Gaza War, but most were released soon.
The Michigan incident attracted public attention and marked a national crackdown on Palestinian demonstrations, and Palestinian rights advocates argued that Nessel’s incident was an attack on freedom of speech and assembly.
The defendant’s lawyer cited the Bias accusation, claiming that Nessel filed a motion to reject himself from the case – the Attorney General dismissed him as “bassed unfounded idiot.”
“These distractions and ongoing delays created a circus-like atmosphere in these cases,” the Attorney General said in her statement.
Defence counsel Kuja said the team was “absolutely confident” in winning the suit either by judicial dismissal or by innocent jury judges, criticising Nessel’s pretrial lawsuit’s “circus-like” characterization.
He added that Michigan prosecutor’s proceedings say a request for Nessel’s removal from the lawsuit should be guaranteed and brought by the county, not the county’s attorney general.
Free speech under attack
To highlight the suspicious bias, the defense attorney also noted that Nessel had “clashed with Rep. Rashida Treive, the only Palestinian in Parliament, just weeks before filing the charges last year.
Shortly after Nessel charged the student, Tlaib denounced the Attorney General for “possible bias” within her agency, stressing that other protests have not faced similar legal crackdowns.
The Attorney General responded by accusing Tlaib of anti-Semitism, but lawmakers did not mention the Attorney General’s religion or Jewish identity.
“Rashida should not use my religion to imply that I cannot fair my work as the Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong,” Nessel wrote in a social media post in September.
The controversy grew for several weeks, reflecting Nessel’s anti-Semitic allegations against Tlaib by CNN and the pro-Israel outlet without evidence.
Khuja said the Attorney General ultimately “want to set an example for those protesting against Palestine.”
He added that the incident is greater than the students and politicians involved.
“The First Amendment applies to all speeches, but it has been under attack to protect Israel from recent criticism,” Kuja told Al-Jazeera.
“And this case proved that people who believe in Palestinian rights, their opinions are as legal as others, and that the initial amendment protects those views and your right to express your views.”
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