DEARBORN — Around 30 protesters gathered on the steps of Dearborn City Hall Monday July 26 to defend what they called  First Amendment violations and to support the four Christian missionaries who were arrested June 19 by the Dearborn police at the Arab International Festival and charged with a misdemeanor of disturbing the peace.

The missionaries, Negeen Mayel,18, of California; Nabeel Qureshi, 29, of Virginia; Paul Rezkalla,18, of New York and David Wood, 34, also of New York; attended the festival to promote Christianity. They’re part of the group Acts 17 Apologetics, a Christian group that believes its mission is to defend the practices of Jesus.

Attorney Majed Moughni, who is a Republican candidate for Michigan’s 15th congressional district, organized the rally and will compete against Democrat Rep. John Dingell if he wins in the Aug. 3 primary. Moughni, a Muslim, said the rally was necessary because the rights to free speech were violated during the arrests. “Everyone is saying why are you defending the Christians? This is not about defending Christians or Muslims, it’s about defending the First Amendment,” Moughni said. 

The missionaries couldn’t afford to purchase a booth at the festival. According to Moughni, one of the biggest issues is the festival was divided into free speech and non-free speech zones which he calls unconstitutional. An attorney for the missionaries said the group was promoting Christianity in a legal and appropriate manner. 

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said the missionaries caused a stir at the festival and were arrested to prevent violence from occurring. According to Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr., the missionaries were angering people at the festival and arrests were made solely on the basis of public safety. 

Moughni and other demonstrators from the rally plan on attending subsequent hearings for the case.  Moughni is concerned the image of Arab Americans in Dearborn may have been injured by the incident. He says the videos he watched from the festival show the missionaries acting professionally. “Here in Michigan we have the largest concentration of Arab Americans. What is everyone going to think?  These are the kinds of people we shouldn’t arrest. What perception do we want to give the rest of the country? We are trying to promote our businesses but the first thing we do to our guests is throw them in jail for the night,” Moughni said.

Moughni believes that a similar local incident happened in 2006 when he says Dr. Mohamad Bazzi of Dearborn Heights had his rights to free speech were violated. Bazzi was arrested for inciting a riot but the charges against him were dismissed. Moughni said the city needs to reinvestigate the perception they have created by further examining the incident. “It is time to do the right thing and drop the charges,” Moughni said.