DETROIT — A highly-controversial anti-Islam ad campaign has been approved on the basis of First and 14th Amendment rights in District Court.
Judge Denise Hood granted a preliminary injunction against the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority’s original rejection of the ads by ruling that the SMART bus system violated the aforementioned rights.
The ads could appear on local buses soon according to The Detroit News, with messages such as “Fatwa on your head? Leaving Islam? Refuge from Islam.com. Got questions? Get answers!”
The ads will be funded by the New York City-based American Freedom Defense Initiative group of which noted anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller is the executive director. Geller is also the head of the Stop Islamization of America organization, which is referred to as an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center.
Local CIOM leader Victor Begg called said the ads are another example of a hate group taking advantage of the First Amendment while noting that the Qur’an states “there is no compulsion in religion” according to The Detroit News.
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