The Young Turks: 17 year old found guilty over pro-ISIS twitter
A 17 year old named, Ali Amin, is facing 11 years in prison after being caught supporting ISIS over twitter and helping his friend go to Syria to join the terrorist group. The Young Turks power panel of Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, Jimmy Dore, and Ben Mankiewicz discuss whether or not the sentencing is fair.
The lines are tough to draw in this case, especially when discussing the use of the word, ‘terrorist.’ There’s a point to be made by the fact that Dylann Roof wasn’t called a terrorist. Mankiewicz explains that calling Amin a terrorist is a prosecutorial tool in order to charge him and Roof will face consequences, regardless, since he killed nine people. Uygur argues that there’s a clear double standard, “This guy didn’t kill 9 people. He did things that were bad, but he didn’t kill 9 people. But, he’s a terrorist?”
Kasparian acknowledges Mankiewicz’s point that it’s a prosecutorial tool but adds, “There’s also the media perception and the way the media covers stories like this. So even if someone hasn’t been charged with terrorism yet, the media will report a Muslim individual as a terrorist.” The challenge is, the Muslim community is grouped under this characterization because of perception, while White supremacist groups escape being called a terrorist.
Watch the full discussion below:
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