Field trip or ploy? Judge briefly bars Muslim kids’ visit
NEW YORK — Some Islamic school students in New York City got a surprise civics lesson when a judge briefly barred them from a public courtroom, saying she suspected their presence was a ploy to get sympathy with the jury.
The unusual move came Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Manhattan on the second day of a civil trial in which the U.S. government is trying to seize a skyscraper it claims is secretly owned by Iran. An Iranian-American charity, the Alavi Foundation, owns 60 per cent of the Fifth Avenue office tower and is fighting the U.S. government’s attempt.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest halted testimony when 16 students in uniforms and head coverings arrived on a field trip from the Razi School, a private school in Queens that is supported by the charity.
The judge said she thought the students’ presence was “gamesmanship” and she barred them from entering while she spoke with lawyers. She ultimately let the children in, just in time for them to hear a lawyer ask if the white scarves worn by 10 students were to blame for the snub. His comments angered the judge, who called them “so inappropriate that it is breathtaking.”