DEARBORN – The four Christian missionaries who were arrested at the International Arab American Festival on June 18 were arraigned Monday, July 12 at the 19th District Court in Dearborn.

Negeen Mayel, 18, of California; Nabeel Qureshi, 29, of Virginia; Paul Rezkalla, 18 of New York, and David Wood, 34, also of New York, were charged with the misdemeanor of disturbing the peace and can face a $500 fine as well as up to 93 days in jail. They are part of an organization known as the Acts 17 Apologetics.

The Acts 17 Apologetics are a Christian based group who say their mission is to defend the Gospel of Jesus. 

“We engage Muslims and the foundations of Islam without trying to be “PC” (politically correct). We feel honesty is better than disguised language.”

Although some have said these charges are unfounded and a violation of the First Amendment, according to the Dearborn Mayor’s Office as well as the police department, those arrested endangered the public.

According to the police, they received a complaint from a Christian volunteer at the festival regarding the behavior of the Acts 17 Apologetics. At the time of their arrest they were not passing out flyers, but aggressively engaging passers-by in a confrontational debate causing a large crowd to gather.

“The four members of Acts 17 Apologetics chose to escalate their behavior, which appeared well-orchestrated and deliberate, and chose not to follow the directions being given to them by the responding officers,” police said.

Due to their behavior the crowd gathered to the point where it violated  the City of Dearborn Misdemeanor Ordinances of Breach of Peace and Failure to Obey the Lawful Order of a Police Officer. After their arrest the crowd dispersed.

Those arrested were not in a public space, nor in the space allotted by the festival for passing out flyers at the time of their arrest.

“The real violation of First Amendment rights occurs with Acts 17 Apologetics trying to imply they were the victim,” Mayor O’reilly said, ” when the real violation is their attack on the City of Dearborn for having tolerance for all religions including believers in the Qur’an.”

A number of other Christian groups were at the festival including  the well-known  Christian minister Josh McDowell, who spoke with festival attendees regarding Christianity and the New Testament.         

“He and the other evangelists followed the rules and have been successful in achieving their goals,” said Mayor O’Reilly.

The Act 17 Apologetics have a history of confrontation at the International Arab American festival in Dearborn.

After the 2009 festival, the group posted video suggesting that they were prevented from discussing the Bible within the festival and city, citing they believe that shari’a law was in place in Dearborn.

They failed to mention the other four Christian organizations that have had no problems preaching within the festival.

“I never spent three days anywhere, where I have met more people that are so warm,” McDowell said. “Probably the most positive visits I have ever had in my lifetime in any city in the world.” At the festival Mc Dowell personally autographed 3600 copies of his book “The Witness” a novel he wrote for Arabic speaking people about God’s love for all people.

The other Christian groups present in Dearborn had similar experiences.

After the 2009 video was posted by the Acts 17 group, Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. hosted a meeting with the Dearborn Area Ministerial Association in September of 2009 to talk about the experience of Christian groups at the 2009 Arab Festival. 

Following this meeting, several pastors sought to meet with the Acts 17 group, but never received a reply.

“Our concern is that they have simply presented a false image of the actual situation on the ground in Dearborn,” several pastors said in a letter. “That they were in conflict with the security guards had more to do with how they set out to provoke a reaction than it did with actually sharing the Gospel or refuting error.”           

“This issue has nothing to do with First Amendment Rights,” said Mayor O’Reilly, “It has to do with public safety and the individual choices made by the arrested parties.”