Is there, seriously, fucking nobody in that government with the brains or decency to step back and say, "Wait a minute. This is what Iran does. This is what Syria does. This is what the Libyan government tried to do. We cannot and must not go down the road of persecuting people for their speech or their beliefs."
The charges are not over his speech. He would not have been arrested for writing to the newspaper, yelling in the public square, or any number of other activities that would have gotten one arrested (and perhaps tortured) in those other countries. This is decidedly not what Iran does, or what Syria does.
In this country, you are entitled to speech, but you are not entitled to block other people's use of a major roadway. There's an enormous distinction.
That said, I don't really see why these guys want the Twitter information. The case seems to make itself pretty well ("Officer, did you see the defendant attempting to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge?" "Yes, I did. And here's the footage of the same." "The prosecution rests, your honor.").
