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From Jihad Watch:
Terry Jones to sue over enforcement of Sharia in Dearborn, Michigan
Arrested for something he had not done -- not a crime he didn't commit, mind you, but a crime that no one committed, and something that, if it had been done, isn't even a crime at all. Except under Islamic law, that is. An update on this story. "Terry Jones says he'll sue over his arrest," by Oralandar Brand-Williams and Mark Hicks for The Detroit News, April 25:
The controversy over Florida pastor Terry Jones is unlikely to end anytime soon.
He said he plans to file a lawsuit against the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and other government offices in connection with his arrest Friday following a jury trial that found he was likely to create a "breach of the peace" for plans to protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.
And he still vows to conduct his protest, but it will be Friday outside Dearborn City Hall.
"We invite every American who still believes in the freedom and rights that our Constitution guarantees to come and stand with us," Jones said Sunday.
The controversial Quran-burning pastor said he is working with the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center because "we were arrested for something we had not done."
Jones' case is unique, said Richard Thompson, the center's president and chief counsel. "There are legal experts and commentators from all sides of the political spectrum who agree that what happened to Pastor Jones was a violation of the First Amendment."
Constitutional law expert Robert Sedler said he is glad Jones is challenging the "bizarre" ruling by 19th District Judge Mark Somers requiring Jones to post a "peace bond," jailing him for refusing and ordering him to stay away from the mosque for three years — all before Jones held the demonstration.
"The Supreme Court says you cannot deny a permit because of the message," said Sedler, a Wayne State University Law School professor. "The U.S. Constitution supersedes everything, which is why this is so bizarre."
At the trial, prosecutors cited an imam's remark that some see burning a Quran as worth 1,000 lives to explain why violence might erupt.
Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini, whom prosecutors were quoting about the Quran burning, said while safety concerns were legitimate, he was referring to reaction abroad. "I had no concerns at all that our community would react violently," he said....
Even if that is true, the responsibility for what people do abroad lies with them, not with Terry Jones.
Posted by Robert on April 25, 2011 8:27 AM
And this, related, also from Jihad Watch:
Spencer: Koran-Burning Pastor Jailed for Thoughtcrime
In Human Events this morning I discuss the free speech showdown in Michigan:
On Good Friday in Dearborn, Mich., the notorious Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones was jailed and fined for the crime of refusing to pay a so-called “peace bond” to cover the costs of extra police protection for Jones’ planned demonstration outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Judge Mark Somers also ordered Jones to stay away from the massive Dearborn mosque for three years.
This is a restriction on the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression that Islamic supremacists are certainly going to try to use in the future to press for even more.
Jones was only in jail briefly, and the fine was a symbolic one dollar, but clearly Dearborn authorities see him as a threat to public order. Why? Was Jones threatening to burn down the mosque, using copies of the Koran as kindling? Did he threaten the Dearborn Muslims—or Muslims anywhere else? Did he strap a suicide vest to himself and detonate it in a crowd of infidels? Did he plant explosives in his underwear and try to blow up an airliner in mid-flight? Did he load a car with explosives and try to explode it on a crowded night in Times Square? Did he murder 13 Americans while shooting “Allahu Akbar” at Fort Hood? Did he murder an American serviceman outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock for Allah and Islam? [...]
Commentator Pamela Geller points out Dearborn’s soft bigotry of low expectations: "The city of Dearborn's position is that Muslims are so violent and irrational that they won't be able to control themselves if Jones holds a protest? And he has to pay for damages? Why wouldn't the marauding Muslim hordes pay the damages if they are doing the damage? And if they get violent, why aren't they in jail?"
Indeed. the New York Times reported that “Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University, said the United States Supreme Court has ruled that it is the police’s job to protect speakers at such events, and said it is unconstitutional to require protesters to post a bond for police protection.”
Yet it has been done now, and the precedent set that a man has been arrested, jailed, and fined for the Orwellian crime of planning to hold a politically incorrect protest. Whatever one may think of Terry Jones and his book-burning (and I am not a fan of book-burning myself), every free citizen should be supporting his right to protest in Michigan. Muslims should not be immune from criticism and protest in America any more than anyone else is. To restrict Jones’ right to protest in front of a mosque is to send the signal that violent intimidation works, and that those who killed people in Afghanistan because of Jones’ Koran-burning have achieved their ultimate goal: to make Islam immune from criticism because every potential critic will be afraid to speak out.
That is the road to tyranny. And now we have embarked on it.
There is more.
Posted by Robert on April 26, 2011 1:35 AM
Terry Jones to sue over enforcement of Sharia in Dearborn, Michigan
Arrested for something he had not done -- not a crime he didn't commit, mind you, but a crime that no one committed, and something that, if it had been done, isn't even a crime at all. Except under Islamic law, that is. An update on this story. "Terry Jones says he'll sue over his arrest," by Oralandar Brand-Williams and Mark Hicks for The Detroit News, April 25:
The controversy over Florida pastor Terry Jones is unlikely to end anytime soon.
He said he plans to file a lawsuit against the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and other government offices in connection with his arrest Friday following a jury trial that found he was likely to create a "breach of the peace" for plans to protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.
And he still vows to conduct his protest, but it will be Friday outside Dearborn City Hall.
"We invite every American who still believes in the freedom and rights that our Constitution guarantees to come and stand with us," Jones said Sunday.
The controversial Quran-burning pastor said he is working with the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center because "we were arrested for something we had not done."
Jones' case is unique, said Richard Thompson, the center's president and chief counsel. "There are legal experts and commentators from all sides of the political spectrum who agree that what happened to Pastor Jones was a violation of the First Amendment."
Constitutional law expert Robert Sedler said he is glad Jones is challenging the "bizarre" ruling by 19th District Judge Mark Somers requiring Jones to post a "peace bond," jailing him for refusing and ordering him to stay away from the mosque for three years — all before Jones held the demonstration.
"The Supreme Court says you cannot deny a permit because of the message," said Sedler, a Wayne State University Law School professor. "The U.S. Constitution supersedes everything, which is why this is so bizarre."
At the trial, prosecutors cited an imam's remark that some see burning a Quran as worth 1,000 lives to explain why violence might erupt.
Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini, whom prosecutors were quoting about the Quran burning, said while safety concerns were legitimate, he was referring to reaction abroad. "I had no concerns at all that our community would react violently," he said....
Even if that is true, the responsibility for what people do abroad lies with them, not with Terry Jones.
Posted by Robert on April 25, 2011 8:27 AM
And this, related, also from Jihad Watch:
Spencer: Koran-Burning Pastor Jailed for Thoughtcrime
In Human Events this morning I discuss the free speech showdown in Michigan:
On Good Friday in Dearborn, Mich., the notorious Koran-burning pastor Terry Jones was jailed and fined for the crime of refusing to pay a so-called “peace bond” to cover the costs of extra police protection for Jones’ planned demonstration outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Judge Mark Somers also ordered Jones to stay away from the massive Dearborn mosque for three years.
This is a restriction on the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression that Islamic supremacists are certainly going to try to use in the future to press for even more.
Jones was only in jail briefly, and the fine was a symbolic one dollar, but clearly Dearborn authorities see him as a threat to public order. Why? Was Jones threatening to burn down the mosque, using copies of the Koran as kindling? Did he threaten the Dearborn Muslims—or Muslims anywhere else? Did he strap a suicide vest to himself and detonate it in a crowd of infidels? Did he plant explosives in his underwear and try to blow up an airliner in mid-flight? Did he load a car with explosives and try to explode it on a crowded night in Times Square? Did he murder 13 Americans while shooting “Allahu Akbar” at Fort Hood? Did he murder an American serviceman outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock for Allah and Islam? [...]
Commentator Pamela Geller points out Dearborn’s soft bigotry of low expectations: "The city of Dearborn's position is that Muslims are so violent and irrational that they won't be able to control themselves if Jones holds a protest? And he has to pay for damages? Why wouldn't the marauding Muslim hordes pay the damages if they are doing the damage? And if they get violent, why aren't they in jail?"
Indeed. the New York Times reported that “Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University, said the United States Supreme Court has ruled that it is the police’s job to protect speakers at such events, and said it is unconstitutional to require protesters to post a bond for police protection.”
Yet it has been done now, and the precedent set that a man has been arrested, jailed, and fined for the Orwellian crime of planning to hold a politically incorrect protest. Whatever one may think of Terry Jones and his book-burning (and I am not a fan of book-burning myself), every free citizen should be supporting his right to protest in Michigan. Muslims should not be immune from criticism and protest in America any more than anyone else is. To restrict Jones’ right to protest in front of a mosque is to send the signal that violent intimidation works, and that those who killed people in Afghanistan because of Jones’ Koran-burning have achieved their ultimate goal: to make Islam immune from criticism because every potential critic will be afraid to speak out.
That is the road to tyranny. And now we have embarked on it.
There is more.
Posted by Robert on April 26, 2011 1:35 AM
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