Wednesday July 14, 2010
Christian Missionaries Arrested at Michigan Arab Festival
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
DEARBORN, Michigan, July 14, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Four Christian missionaries were arraigned in the 19th District Court in Dearborn on July 12 and charged with disorderly conduct. Police had arrested them at Dearborn’s Arab International Festival on June 18 for handing out Christian literature.
Police also seized the group’s video equipment.
Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia, Negeen Mayel of California, and Paul Rezkalla and David Wood of New York, all members of a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics, said they only spoke to people who approached them and videotaped the encounters to protect themselves. They added that the charges are a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech.
“We made sure that the only people we talked to were people who first approached us. And this was to limit accusations of instigation and disruption,” Qureshi told reporters after the incident. “We knew people have a tendency to accuse us of being disruptive, of inciting, and instigating. So we wanted to make sure we did absolutely nothing of the sort.”
Lawyers from the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing the four street preachers, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the Christians, three of whom are converts from Islam.
“It’s evident that the Dearborn Police department was more interested in placating Muslims than obeying our Constitution,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, in a press release. “These Christians were exercising their Constitutional rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, but apparently in a city where the Muslim population seems to dominate the political apparatus, sharia law trumps our Constitution.”
“It’s apparent that these arrests were a retaliatory action over the embarrassing video of the strong arm tactics used last year by Festival Security Guards,” Thompson added. “This time, the first thing police officers did before making the arrests was to confiscate the video cameras in order to prevent a recording of what was actually happening.”
The Christian preachers had had a similar run-in with the police at least year’s festival.
According to U.S. Census Bureau information, nearly one third of Dearborn’s 98,000 inhabitants are Arab Americans.
Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly Jr. defended the actions of the police and has issued a statement on the city’s Web site stating that he thinks the group’s intent was to disrupt the Arab festival.
“The real violation of First Amendment rights occurs with Acts 17 Apologetics trying to imply they were the victim when the real violation is their attack on the city of Dearborn for having tolerance for all religions, including believers in the Koran,” O’Reilly’s statement said.
“Our job is to provide public safety to all who choose to rally or demonstrate in the city of Dearborn and we will provide the same professional service regardless of the cause or views of the parties involved,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in the statement on the city’s web site.
A press release from the Thomas More Law Center today says that the mayor’s statement is “an unprecedented and astonishing development.”
“The City of Dearborn, through its mayor and its official website, personally attacked the four Christian missionaries arrested at the annual Arab International Festival on June 18, 2010. The Mayor’s intrusion into the case destroyed whatever semblance remained of an unbiased and professional law enforcement action following the illegal seizure of video cameras to prevent recording of the events surrounding the arrests.”
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan will represent the Christian missionaries at their trial, which is scheduled for September 20, 2010.
Video footage of Acts 17 Apologetics’ response to Mayor O’Reilly’s statement is available here.
Contact info for Dearborn Mayor John O’Reilly
Dearborn City Hall
13615 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, Michigan, 48126
Phone: 313. 943.2300
Email: via website