DETROIT — A federal judge has ruled that the American Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) can be named as a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit involving the arrest of Christian missionaries in the city of Dearborn, which occurred during an altercation at the 2010 Arab International Festival.

The four Christian missionaries,  

Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, and Negeen Mayel

, were thrown in jail by Dearborn police officers for confronting Muslims at the annual festival.  The city charged the Christians with “breach of the peace” and ordered them to stand trial.  In September 2010, the four individuals were acquitted by a unanimous jury verdict. 

Following that trial, the four missionaries filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Dearborn, Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Chief of Police Ron Haddad and 17 other Dearborn Police officers who were involved with the operations of the festival that year. The lawsuit alleges that the Christians’ constitutional rights were egregiously violated during the Arab festival.  

The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC), representing the four plaintiffs, had requested to file an amended complaint in the civil suit  to include the AACC as a defendant, since they are responsible for organizing the festival on a yearly basis. Federal Judge Stephen J. Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan agreed that the addition of the AACC would be plausible, stating “The court finds that Plaintiffs do properly allege a civil conspiracy among Defendants, including the AACC, to deprive Plaintiffs of their constitutional rights sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss.”

Fay Beydoun, the Executive Director of the AACC says the organization is preparing for the lawsuit, which is currently scheduled for a jury trial in August.

“I’m sure the judge had his reasoning to make that judgment. Our attorneys don’t have a problem with it and we are preparing to respond back to them soon,” Beydoun stated.

This lawsuit is just one of several setbacks that has taken place in recent years at the Arab International Festival. Growing tension between religious groups has led to multiple arrests and heightened security in recent years. In 2012, the city of Dearborn had handed over security operations to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, because the city did not want to be held liable for anymore incidents.