Early last month, Raunaq Alam, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi American from the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Hurst, was on the verge of spending a decade behind bars for the alleged hate crime of spray-painting the words “Fuck Israel” on the side of a non-denominational Christian church in nearby Euless.
His trial on the trumped-up charge was a classic example of a violation of First Amendment rights and a sign that Alam was being targeted for pro-Palestine activism, said his attorneys and supporters.
On September 12, Alam was spared this fate as a Tarrant County jury rejected the elevated charge, instead convicting him of lower-level criminal mischief and sentencing him to probation. But Judge Brian Bolton, who presided over the felony trial despite being a misdemeanor judge, added a probation condition: 180 days in jail, starting immediately—a decision that has helped set off a chain of events during which Alam, one of three charged in the graffiti incident (the “Tarrant Three”), has found himself cycling in and out of jail.
“Every single time since October [2024], the state is adding something new,” Alam told the Texas Observer on September 21 in an interview at his family’s home. “Every single thing they’re doing is just like they’re coming after me in every possible way. It’s abuse of power.”
Alam has been arrested five total times—on a number of grounds including possession of a controlled substance and perjury in addition to the graffiti-related charges—since the beginning of his case. After his most recent arrest for alleged perjury, Alam was placed in maximum-security custody in the Tarrant County Jail, Sheriff Bill Waybourn told WFAA, calling Alam a high-profile inmate. As county prosecutors aggressively pursue jail time for the pro-Palestine activist, his supporters say his rights are being violated.
“The Tarrant County DA’s office is showing the world how easily the government can roll back all of our civil rights,” said Alam’s defense attorney, Adwoa Asante, citing the hate crime escalation along with decisions by the state’s attorneys and the trial judge, calling the ongoing prosecutions a “rush to politically retaliate.”
On March 6, 2024, Alam, riding with friends Afsheen Khan, 23, and Julia Venzor, 26, allegedly pulled his sedan into the parking lot of Uncommon Church, a non-denominational church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Euless. The house of worship was flying the Israeli flag as that country’s siege of Gaza entered its sixth month. Alam, along with Khan and Venzor, were captured on security camera footage spray-painting “Fuck Israel” along an exterior wall.
The next day, Uncommon Church Lead Pastor Brad Carignan encountered the graffiti after being informed of it via phone call. Carignan and his fellow lead pastor and wife, Josie, have been outspoken in their support of Israel, especially since the 2023 attack by Hamas. Carignan testified during Alam’s hate crime trial last month, saying the graffiti left their “hearts so broken” and that “We, as Gentile church people, felt such a connection to Jewish people.” (At trial, Alam acknowledged he was aware of the church’s Zionist leanings.)
Law enforcement secured a warrant on March 20 and arrested Alam on a misdemeanor graffiti charge five days later. FBI agents arrived at a T-Mobile in Euless, where he worked. After Alam refused to answer questions without legal representation, he was taken into custody. Euless Police officers then searched Alam’s car, unlocking it with Alam’s own keys, and allegedly found less than one gram of ’shrooms, according to Asante, which led to an additional drug charge that remains pending. A search warrant for Alam’s car was secured two days later, according to trial testimony from police.
Alam bonded out within thirty hours. Then, last September, the district attorney assigned the graffiti case to Assistant DA Lloyd Whelchel, whose portfolio often includes capital murder prosecutions. Two months later, Alam was arrested and jailed again when Whelchel enhanced the charge from misdemeanor graffiti to criminal mischief and a hate crime, elevating the potential punishment from a $200 fine to a potential 10-year prison sentence.
During Alam’s hate crime trial last month, the prosecution argued that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are synonymous, emphasizing the overlap between the State of Israel and the Jewish people. But Alam’s lawyers and expert witnesses from both the defense and (in one instance) the prosecution stated that a distinction must be maintained between people of Jewish faith and the Israeli state. One expert witness, Deb Armintor, a University of North Texas professor with the Jewish Studies program and member of Jewish Voice for Peace, stressed the point to the Observer. “Not only is Israel committing a genocide against the Palestinian people; they’re claiming to do it in our name,” she said. “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. … Zionism is a relatively modern political ideology. Judaism is an ancient religion.”
In his arguments, Whelchel referred to Alam’s actions as “terrorism,” called him a “punk,” and described alleged drug use in an apparent attempt to malign the defendant’s character. But jurors ultimately reached a unanimous decision that the act was not a hate crime.
After the judge added the 180-day sentence to his probation, his lawyers appealed the jail time and Alam was bailed out on September 16, reuniting with his family, friends, and two cats. Mark Streiff, another Tarrant County criminal defense attorney, told the Observer that the 180-day addition was “a miscarriage of justice” and that the judge had acted “because of his own feelings about everything.”
Alam’s ordeal, however, was far from over as prosecutors filed a motion arguing his bond was insufficient, citing text messages related to drug use submitted during trial and claiming Alam had perjured himself by denying he had used drugs. “They’re trying to revoke his bond on the drug charge, even though he hasn’t had any violations. So they’re essentially trying to revoke his bond for thought crimes,” Asante said. “I think it’s very important for people to understand: Fascism is here.”
On September 24, Alam was indicted for aggravated perjury and arrested again at the end of the next day. Alam had to pay two bonds, totalling $40,000, to get out again, which he did with help from a GoFundMe. Alam is now confined with an ankle monitor under curfew, with a court date set for November 11.
As Alam has cycled in and out of lockup, his lawyer Asante alleges that the trial judge displayed partiality to the state. In a failed recusal motion from last October, Asante alleged “biased rulings” and ex parte communications between the judge and the prosecution that disadvantaged the defense.
The motion reads in part: “On October 8th, 2024, Judge Bolton rescheduled a trial date, where Defense had an out of state witness, without consulting Defense for the availability of Counsel, witnesses, or even the accused. … Defense is unsure if the new trial date of October 28th, 2024 took into account the State’s availability as Defense was not present for the ex parte communications about the motion to amend that Judge Bolton granted.”
Whelchel and Bolton’s offices did not respond to requests for comment. District Attorney Phil Sorrells told the Observer there were “no unauthorized communications.” Sorrels also said: “The First Amendment is not a shield for criminal behavior. Destroying another person’s property because you disagree with their views is not protected speech—it is a crime. Our community will not tolerate such lawlessness.”
The “Tarrant Three” have never disputed that they vandalized Uncommon Church. While Venzor and her lawyer took a plea deal in exchange for probation sometime prior to September, reportedly out of concern for Venzor’s children, Alam and Khan’s legal representatives are instead fighting the state’s prosecution. Khan’s trial was recently reset to December 2.
Alam and Afsheen Khan (right), who still faces trial (Courtesy/Stacey Monroe)
Alam, who grew up in Hurst and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, found a gateway into activism through the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014. A child of survivors of the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971, where the Pakistani government exterminated up to 3 million people, Alam spoke to the Observer about his father’s experiences and his passion for the pro-Palestinian cause.
“There was a time when my dad was traveling between the rivers on a boat to go to his uncle’s house, and he saw, like, a pile of skeletons in the river, just stacked [on the bank]. Bodies just being thrown in the river,” Alam said. “So that’s images that are just burned into [my family’s] heads that, unfortunately, are having to be resurfaced from all of the imagery that we’re seeing from the very brave journalists in Gaza.”
Alam also spoke to ongoing efforts by state actors to conflate Israel with the Jewish people. “Our government merges the ideas of Judaism and Zionism,” Alam said, noting that friends with Jewish Voice for Peace have supported him through his ordeal. “Criticizing a country or criticizing a state does not mean you’re criticizing an entire group of people or an entire faith.”
Asante said she fears that, by the logic underpinning the state’s prosecution, hate crime laws could be used to shield not only governments and states but even for-profit corporations. “Hate-crime statutes were supposed to be for people who are vulnerable,” she said. “But now, if you’re saying ‘Fuck Israel’ and an entity like the government is going to be protected, how will we know that they’re not going to extend it to Amazon?”
The case of the Tarrant Three has gained national attention as outlets around the country have reported on the trial. Alam, meanwhile, remains singularly focused on “shedding light” on the genocide in Gaza—and he stands by the words painted on the site of the church that March night.
“Free Palestine,” Alam told the Observer during the interview at his family home, “and Fuck Israel.”
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