Muhammad Ali feels like he’s living half of a life. At 23, he just graduated from college and is ready to move on to the next phase — one that includes getting married next month and attending law school. But all of this, he says, is colored by the threat of spending years in prison over his role in the June 2024 encampment protests at his former school, the University of Pittsburgh.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Ali for four misdemeanors and three felonies, including aggravated assault against an officer. Ali’s lawyer has argued in court filings that the charges are motivated by unlawful discrimination based on Ali’s race, religion and “the exercise of his constitutional rights including his outspoken advocacy for the liberation of Palestine.”
The court has denied his motion to dismiss the case on the grounds of selective prosecution. The trial is set for Sept. 21.
Ali’s is one of two cases still active from the June encampments, where at least 20 people were arrested and charged. The other is his co-defendant, 26-year-old Cole Florkewicz, who is similarly facing three misdemeanor and three felony charges. Neither had any prior criminal history.
Both are the only protesters connected to the Pitt encampments who will have a jury trial over their participation. Everyone else was offered plea deals or entrance into rehabilitative programs, said Ali’s lawyer, Aaron Sontz.
In the spring and summer of 2024, college campuses across the U.S. saw waves of pro-Palestinian encampments where students called on their universities to divest from Israel due to the country’s war with Hamas. Thousands were arrested, but most have seen those charges dropped, according to multiple media analyses. Very few have been hit with felonies, and even fewer have been made to stand trial.
Some students, faculty members and civil rights lawyers say the criminal cases against protesters fall in line with a calculated crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech and advocacy in U.S. higher education.
Locally, Carnegie Mellon University enacted a restrictive “expressive activity” policy for the 2024-25 school year, requiring registration and approval for expressive events held on campus. And at Pitt, its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was suspended in March 2025 following a “study-in” protest and successfully sued the university to be reinstated.
Sontz believes the district attorney’s office is discriminating against his client and only charged Florkewicz, who is white, as a “pretext to make it look like they’re neutral in their charging decisions.”
“[Ali’s] case should have been resolved with a plea months ago,” he said.
Florkewicz wrote to Public Source that “anybody who’s been present at any of our hearings has seen the discrimination [Ali’s] dealt with.”
Florkewicz’s lawyer did not respond to interview requests.
According to Sontz, the Pitt Police officer who said Ali and Florkewicz injured her won’t agree to a plea deal and testified that she wanted the cases to go to trial.
“They’re not allowed to defer their prosecutorial authority to the police officer,” he said.
Pitt’s spokesperson said the university was unable to comment because of “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act policies.”
In response to questions from Public Source, a spokesperson for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office shared a statement stating that “delays in the case proceedings are a result of the defendant’s pre-trial motions.”
“The commonwealth is and has been prepared to proceed to trial.”
Looking for friends, finding activism
When Ali arrived on Pitt’s campus in August 2022, he — like many other students — searched for connection. His interest in social justice led him toward College Democrats and political science clubs, then to a local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and later to Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt, after the Israel-Hamas war began.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed 1,200 citizens. Israel’s response has led to the deaths of more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and widespread displacement. The response has been characterized as genocide by some international human rights agencies.
From there, Ali ascended steadily as an organizer. Speaking at rallies led to sitting on the planning committee for the first encampments at Pitt in April 2024. Before the end of his junior year, he’d even chartered a new club, Progressive Students for Change at Pitt.
Ali, though, pushes back on being called a leader in the local pro-Palestine movement. While he was a member of SJP at Pitt, he said he never sat on the board.
He was present at many of the movement’s actions, including on June 3, 2024, the second day of an encampment on the Cathedral of Learning’s lawn. He said the atmosphere of the June encampments was “drastically different” from the April ones he helped plan, which he described as a “bustling hub” teeming with art, snacks and collaboration.
“I thought it was a beautiful political experiment,” he said of the earlier encampment.
In contrast, the June encampments had high police presence. Barricades were put in place, restricting movement for protesters both inside and outside the encampment. Tensions flared when those outside the encampment attempted to give water and other supplies to those inside, leading to clashes with police.
This is where Ali’s charges stem from. According to the criminal complaint filed by police, Pitt Officer Brooke Riley said Ali injured her on June 3 when he attempted to “rip” a metal barrier out of her hands.
Bodycam shows student-police encounter
Body camera footage reviewed by Public Source shows Ali stepping between Riley and Florkewicz. Riley is speaking to Florkewicz, saying:
“You want to hurt me? Do you want to? Do you know anything about me?”
After Ali gets between the two, Riley asks him:
“You’re OK with hurting me?”
To which Ali replies:
“Yeah.”
Riley responds:
“Yeah, good to know, because I don’t want to hurt anybody. I want everyone to get home tonight.”
Then, someone — it is unclear from the footage — says:
“Uh huh, yeah, sure bitch.”
Riley says to Ali:
“Yeah, I remember you. You remember me?”
This is when Ali goes to pick up a fallen metal barrier, which Riley grabs from him. Another officer approaches, and Ali lets go of the barrier, puts his hands up, and says:
“I’m not doing anything. Relax, relax.”
The officers tell Ali:
“Back up.”
He doesn’t.
The officers go to pick up another fallen metal barrier, which Ali starts pulling away from them.
Florkewicz and another protester join Ali in pulling the barrier. An officer falls, and Riley loses her grip on the barrier.
Riley approaches the protesters again, bearing her baton.
Ali and a protester are pulling the barrier toward them when Florkewicz steps up and pushes it toward Riley. Ali follows along in the push.
The barrier hits the right side of Riley’s body, causing her to exclaim:
“Ah, no!”
After this, Riley begins to approach Ali, who has now dropped the barrier. A few protesters step between the two. Then, the clip ends.
Clashes bring arrests and expulsions
Riley said that following the incident, she had a numb left pinky and ring finger as well as a bruised thigh and a pulled hamstring, according to court records. She didn’t receive medical treatment.
Pennsylvania law defines aggravated assault in part as an act that “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes serious bodily injury” to a law enforcement officer.
Sontz has argued that Ali engaged in reckless, but not intentional, conduct.
“If he had picked up the barrier and threw it at one of them, if he was swinging something at one of them, if he was throwing punches or kicking, I mean that would show intentional conduct,” Sontz said during the preliminary hearing. “But simply grabbing a piece of fence and having, sort of like, a tug of war with the officers over it — at best … that is reckless conduct.”
Police body camera footage also showed other struggles over the metal barriers on June 3 between protesters and officers. In the clips, some officers are shoved, fall and get hit by objects thrown at them.
Scenes from the Pitt encampment on June 3, 2024
Police block protestors from accessing an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source) 
Protestors lock arms and yell at police blocking access to an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source) 
Protestors chant across from a line of police blocking access to an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source) 
Protestors stand inside an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh and blocked by a line of police on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source) 
Protestors sit across from a line of police blocking access to an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source) 
A protestor rests on a barricade at an encampment constructed at the University of Pittsburgh on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)
The encampments disbanded on June 4, and in the following weeks, at least 20 people were arrested and charged for their participation. Ali said he never expected or even considered the possibility of his arrest, thinking instead, “No way they charge people for this.”
He was among the first to be charged.
Ali also said he never expected to get kicked out of school, nor did he expect the case to take more than two years to resolve.
According to Ali, Pitt offered to suspend him for one semester if he accepted the nature of his Code of Conduct violations. He said he didn’t accept the offer because he was still facing charges, and that could’ve jeopardized his case.
Pitt expelled Ali on Nov. 12, 2024, and designated him as a “persona non grata,” which banned him from entering university property.
It is unclear whether other students involved in the encampments were expelled.
Leaning on community
After his expulsion, Ali fell into a deep depressive episode.
“I was somebody that was raised by immigrant parents, and I was told you go to college, you get a good-paying job as a doctor or an engineer, and then you settle down, and then that’s your life,” he said.
Reckoning with losing his spot at school and the threat of incarceration flew in the face of those expectations.
He credits his parents’ continued love and support, along with his friends and partner, Hiba Siddiqui, for pulling him out of the dark place he’d found himself in.
Ali said, “They were like, ‘No, you should continue to go to school. You should continue to do these things. You should continue to find work. You should continue to hang out with people.’”
That encouragement led him to enroll at the University of Maryland Global Campus, where he graduated in May with a degree in political science. Now, he’s on the waitlist for Temple University Law School to attend this fall.
Ali told Public Source that he’s thankful he didn’t put his life on hold for two years, saying, “You have to move without certainty. Otherwise, nothing will get done.”
In a month, Ali and Siddiqui will get married at a large ceremony in the city. He’s bashful about discussing it, choosing to keep details private.
Siddiqui said their romantic relationship predated his case by just six months, but remaining by Ali’s side was always “something that’s felt very right” because of their shared values.
She describes supporting Ali and going through the legal process as a “coming of age” for both, in a way that’s been “challenging, but also very grounding and humbling.”
“Muhammad is not the first person to be affected by political repression in this way, and I don’t think that Muhammad will be the last,” Siddiqui said.
Prison time for Ali would upend their lives, but they refuse to prepare for the worst.
“There has to be a very deep-seated belief in the capacities of yourself and your loved ones in a world where you don’t know whether or not the end of a certain period of your life is coming,” he said.
Maddy Franklin reports on higher ed for Pittsburgh’s Public Source, in partnership with Open Campus, and can be reached at madison@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Emma Folts.
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