DEARBORN – Members of the Congress of Arab American
Organizations met with Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad on Wednesday, April 27
to discuss the return visit of extremist pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville,
Florida on Friday, April 29.

CAAO members agreed that Jones should be ignored during his
protest, which is expected to take place at City Hall.  They released a statement to the press
urging Arab Americans, American Muslims and the community at large to steer
clear of the area on Michigan Avenue where Jones is planning to hold what he
calls an “anti-shari’a” and “anti-jihad” protest. Dearborn
Mayor Jack O’Reilly has long refuted myths about shari’a in Dearborn.

Haddad thanked the community for their peaceful, united
response last week and said he agreed that efforts should be made to persuade
people to avoid Jones as much as possible. He said the city is expecting to
deploy a security response just as strong as last week to keep the community
safe during Jones’ demonstration.

Osama Siblani, spokesman of CAAO, praised Haddad and the
city of Dearborn for its handling of the situation.

Jones also plans to protest against U.S. President Barack
Obama and what he called a violation of First Amendment Rights last week when
he was not allowed to protest in front of the Islamic Center of America after a
six-person jury in 19th District Court found him to be a threat to “breech
the peace.”

In addition, Jones is expected to file a lawsuit against  the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office,
which initiated the trial against him, and the city of Dearborn over his right
to protest at the ICA.

The Thomas More Law Center, a conservative non-profit
organization based in Ann Arbor, confirmed it filed an appeal with the Wayne
County Circuit Court on Jones’ behalf in response to the jury ruling that
prevented him from demonstrating on April 22 of last week, which was Good
Friday for Christians. The mass amount of traffic for worshipers at four
churches near the ICA and Friday prayers at the ICA on that day along with
Jones’ actions in the past, including participating in a Qur’an burning event
and carrying loaded weapons including a gun that went off in his car last week
after the taping of a talk show outside the Fox 2 studios in Southfield, were
among the reasons why the jury and Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly felt Jones
would be a threat to “breach the peace” if he held the protest at the
time and location he expressed interest in.

In response to Jones’ complaints, O’Reilly released a
statement earlier this week saying that the City of Dearborn has always offered
him the opportunity to exercise free speech at Dearborn’s permit-free zones
including City Hall.

The city also believes it is on “solid ground” regarding
potential legal challenges to any action it has taken so far.  The prosecutors from Wayne County
enacted the “peace bond” ruling based on a law that was codified in
Michigan in 1927.  Jones was found
to “…intend to cause or to aid or abet the institution or maintenance of
a riot…” according to the jury and forced to post a $1 peace bond,
disallowing his return to the ICA for 3 years.

The ACLU filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of
Jones, however, last Friday explaining what they said were far-reaching First
Amendment implications in Michigan of charging him the peace bond.

ACLU of Michigan Communications Director Rana Elmir said
they strongly disagree with Jones’ message but believed they had no choice but
to file the brief.

“The ACLU believes discrimination against  any group including Muslims is against
our values and harmful to our democracy, and we’ve been deeply concerned over
the wave of anti-Muslim sentiment,” she said.

“But the answer is not to infringe on the right to
protest even when speech is as reprehensible and offensive as Mr. Jones’.

“Jones and (assistant Wayne) Sapp came for their 15
minutes of fame but the Wayne County prosecutors and Dearborn court gave him
hours more, effectively.”

She added that Supreme Court cases in the past have
illustrated that “free speech can not be financially burdened.”

Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations of Michigan, said he understood the prosecutors’
decision but disagreed with it. 
“This situation most likely would have been behind us if he would
have been allowed to protest for an hour or so and flown back to Florida, I
don’t think anyone would be talking about Terry Jones one week after the
protest,” he said.

“We don’t question the intentions of the prosecutor to
maintain public safety but the first issue was the language itself within the
injunction, the argument of the opening statement from the attorney from the
prosecutor’s office said that if Mr. Jones would have been allowed to speak it would
have caused a riot in the streets; when I heard that Friday morning I couldn’t
believe it.”

Walid said he knows the American Muslim community in
Dearborn well and noted their good relations with other members of society and
churches and participation in local politics and courts, adding that he was
very surprised that the attorney seemed to be making a connection between
“a few zealots” in war-torn Afghanistan and the peaceful local
community.

He said he was concerned about the image of the community
that was portrayed.

“There wasn’t a clear or definitive statement to say
whether Mr. Jones or community members in Dearborn would cause a riot…it
furthered stereotypes that play into the talking points of Jones that there’s
radicals in the community prone to being irrational and violent, so in a sense
they affirmed a picture about the community that anti-Muslim bigots and
xenophones show.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has not been available
for media interviews since the trial, but she made a public statement about her
decision to pursue the peace bond in regards to Jones’ visit.

“These proceedings were solely about public safety.
This was never about prohibiting free speech or fearing rioting but about a
situation that could potentially place the public in danger in Dearborn,”
she said.  “I will continue to
take stands to be proactive in keeping Wayne County safe whether it is popular
to do or not.”

At the Wednesday meeting, Haddad said he agreed with Worthy
regardless of public opinion.

“I support Kym Worthy, we would want everyone to do
whatever they can within the law to safeguard our community,” he said.

At press time Thursday evening, Jones had arrived back in
Detroit and planned to protest in front of Dearborn City Hall on Friday, April
29, at 4 pm.

Natasha Dado contributed to this report.