Does sharia trump the US Constitution in Dearborn?

[Photo courtesy of Thomas More Law Center].The Thomas More Law Center issued a statement about the arrests of four Christian missionaries at the Annual Arab International Festival held in Dearborn, indicating the arraignment on criminal charges will take place on Monday, July 12. The proceedings will be held starting at 8 a.m. in the 19th Judicial District Court [16077 Michigan Ave.] in Dearborn.

The TMLC statement said, “This is the next step in what has been described as police enforcement of Sharia law in a city dominated by a large Muslim population.”

The statement said the four missionaries were arrested “to the jeers and shouts of ‘Allah Akbar’” by Muslims in the crowd. Dearborn police offiers then took the missionaries to jail.

One missionary, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, MD, was “engaged in peaceful dialogue with several Muslim youths,” said TMLC. In addition, “The other three missionaries, who were merely videotaping the conversation, had their cameras and other equipment illegally seized before police arrested them as well.”

The missionaries asked police to view the video when they were arrested, but police refused to do so.

In a very unusual move, police and prosecutors have refused to return the “illegally seized cameras and videotapes,” said TMLC. The Law Center also said authorities have refused to provide TMLC with police reports of the incident “despite repeated requests.”

Arrested on charges of Breach of the Peace are Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla and David Wood.  Mayel, an eighteen-year old female whose parents emigrated from Afghanistan and a recent convert from Islam to Christianity, was also charged with failure to obey a police officer’s orders. She was at least 100 feet away and videotaping Qureshi’s discussion with the Muslim youths when police seized her camera. 

The US Report attempted to reach a spokesperson for the Dearborn Police Dept. for comments, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

Police Chief Ronald Haddad was appointed by Dearborn mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. Haddad apparently moved to Dearborn to become chief because his official bio said the mayor “established residency in Dearborn as a condition of employment for the police chief’s position.” 

Haddad  has a long history of service in law enforcement, according to the same bio: “[He] began his career with the Detroit Police Department in 1973 and retired in January 2007 as deputy chief of the northwestern district.”

It is not uncommon for workers in the public sector to retire with benefits from one position and return to another public service position.

O’Reilly, Jr., is a long time politico—his father was also mayor of Dearborn. O’Reilly, Jr., once served as Washington staff counsel and district director for U.S. Congressman John D. Dingell. Dingell is a Washington fixture, a long-time Democrat who is the longest serving member in the US House of Representatives. His father died while in the US House and Dingell gained the seat, typical of the political class when it comes to determining a successor. That was in 1955, so Dingell’s been in Congress since the Mickey Mouse Club debuted.

The Arab International Festival claims to bring more than 300,000 visitors from across the U.S., the Middle East and Canada. Dearborn is a cash-strapped city, one reason officials may yield to concepts of law in keeping with sharia rather than the US Constitution based law that is supposed to be supreme on matters such as the First Amendment.

The festival is put on by the Arab-American Chamber of Commerce. A number of corporate and academic professionals sit on the board, representing companies like Ford Motor Company, New England Financial, Comcast and AT&T, and schools like The University of Michigan and Lawrence Technological University.
The organization defending the Christians, The Thomas More Law Center, is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor (Mich.) is representing all the Christian missionaries.

Because District Judge Mark W. Somers required that all four defendants personally appear before him for the arraignment, the Law Center assisted with the costs of their travel from different parts of the country.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “It’s evident that the Dearborn Police department was more interested in placating Muslims than obeying our Constitution.   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.”

Robert Muise, Senior Trial Counsel with the Law Center, will represent the Christian missionaries at the arraignment on Monday.

No word yet on whether the US Justice Dept. will look into the matter on the basis of infringement of civil rights laws. National branded media have largely ignored this matter, possibly because the defendants are Christian rather than members of other major faiths.

Related Article at The US Report
What big media won't tell you about religious oppression