From the Houston Chronicle:
A Houston man in jail for murder should be served kosher meals, a federal
appeals court ruled.
The U.S. 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a lower court's judgement, stating
that Max Moussazadeh has a sincere religious belief as an Orthodox Jew in
keeping a kosher diet and that Texas infringed upon his beliefs by denying him
free kosher meals, according to court records filed on Dec. 21.
Moussazadeh, now 35, was convicted in connection with a 1993 murder in Harris
County for serving as a lookout while his three co-defendants shot a man to
death during a Houston robbery. He is in the Stiles Unit in Beaumont, which does
not provide free kosher meals, his attorneys said.
In 2005, Moussazadeh sued after the state denied his request for a kosher
meal plan to accommodate his religious beliefs. His case centers around the 2000
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which forbids the
government from restricting religious rights of an institutionalized person.
"I feel that I am going against my beliefs and that I will be punished by God
for not practicing my religion correctly," he wrote in the 2005 complaint. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Appeals-court-rules-Jewish-inmate-s-rights-4156045.php
Yeah, right, and God won't punish him for the being a look out while a murder was being committed and helping with a robbery.
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