Shakeel Syed Wants Tariq Ramadan Freed

Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss-born Islamic activist whose grandfather, Hassan al Banna, was a founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Ramadan, who is now on leave from his teaching duties at Oxford University, is in jail in France charged with rape.

Naturally, Southern California-based Muslim activist, Shakeel Syed, who formerly championed the lost legal cause of the so-called Irvine 11, thinks that Ramadan should be released. Syed's Twitter account is carrying a petition to demand that the French release Ramadan.

Syed has been  involved with the Southern California Shura Council and various other activist pursuits including agitating against Israel. I find it interesting that the first screenshot indicates he is a death penalty activist. If he is against the death penalty why was he one of the sponsors of a sharia law workshop at Loyola Marymount University in 2012 (in which Ramadan appeared as a speaker)? Sharia law has the death penalty for such heinous crimes as adultery, apostasy, blasphemy and homosexuality.

I don't know if Ramadan is guilty of rape or not. I don't think Syed knows either. The  difference is I am not demanding that Ramadan be kept behind bars. Syed has no credibility.