New York Judge Decides Jews to Be Allowed in Jury

Abdel Hameed Shehadeh

A New York city judge announced that he was rejecting a request for Jews to be excluded from a jury.

The request was made, in February, by the defense attorney for Abdel Hameed Shehadeh.

Shehadeh is on trial for conspiracy to kill Americans in Afghanistan.

His attorney had said, "Given that there's going to be inflammatory testimony about Jews and Zionism, I think it would be hard for Jews to cast aside any innate antipathy."

Prosecutors argued that excluding people based on their ethnicity or religious beliefs would be in violation of the Constitution.

Other Muslims on trial, in the US, have tried to have the same condition put on the jury, and all have had their request denied.