A bit of good news, for a change. The Saudi grad student who was on trial for the "terrorist offence" of running a discussion forum on Middle East politics has been acquitted.

Well, good news to a point. One juror had a bit of a surprise in the jury instructions:

"The part that surprised me was when I read the First Amendment instructions. I was surprised to learn that people could say whatever they want ... providing it would not cause imminent action."

You have to wonder what this guy thought "it's a free country" meant.

And even though the poor guy was acquitted on the terrorism counts, the jury hung on some immigration counts whose sole basis, from what I gather in the press, is

is that he certified repeatedly that he was entering the country “solely” to study, but actually engaged in other activities outside class, including volunteer work to operate and maintain Web sites.

First I've heard that student visas come with a gag rule...

via slashdot.