The lawsuit was brought by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of four Christians whose speech and other civil rights were restricted by official city action at several recent city-sponsored Arab Fest events.
The lawsuit on behalf of Acts 17 Apologetics, Nebeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, Negeen Mayel and Joshua Hogg names as defendants the city of Dearborn, Mayor John. B. O'Reilly, Police Chief Ronald Haddad and a long list of police officers in addition to American Arab Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Fay Beydoun and Norma Haidous, the special events coordinator for the American Arab chamber.
Officials in the offices of both O'Reilly and Haddad said they were unable to respond to questions about the case, which seeks a court order halting the city's practices regarding speech and distribution of literature on public property at the city's Arab Fest during the summers.
It also seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants.
The allegation about the honor killings that have been "overlooked" in Dearborn comes on Page 61 of the 96-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today.
Describing the circumstances under which police arrested the Christians and ordered them to spend a night in jail - rather than officers viewing readily available exculpatory evidence that ultimately cleared the missionaries of the charges - the complaint notes that during the booking of the Christians at the city jail, "a sympathetic city police officer told plaintiffs Qureshi and Rezkalla that some of the police officers were 'on their side,' 'agreed with what they were doing' and 'didn't think they did anything wrong,' or words to that effect."
The comments simply were "demonstrating further that defendants retaliated against plaintiffs for their religious speech activity," the complaint explains.
"The sympathetic police officer told plaintiffs that the security personnel hired for the Arab Festival were mostly 'criminals and gang members,'" the complaint explained. Then it continued:
"The sympathetic police officer told plaintiffs that there were instances in the city where 'honor killings' permitted by Shariah had taken place, but they were covered up," the complaint alleges.
All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Shariah Law in America: 'Honor killings' OK in Dearborn, Michigan
From WND:
Pastorius,
ReplyDeleteThis is utterly disturbing.