The questions of public safety versus freedom of speech were raised Monday in the opening arguments of a trial for four Christian missionaries accused of inciting a crowd while videotaping themselves proselytizing at the Dearborn Arab International Festival in June.
“You will hear that this case has to do with freedom of speech, but it has absolutely nothing to do with that,” Dearborn Assistant Attorney William DeBiasi told jurors. “The trial is about the choices the defendants made.”
Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia, Negeen Mayel of California and Paul Rezkalla and David Wood, both of New York, were charged in July with breach of peace after police said they received a complaint from a Christian volunteer working at the festival who said he was surrounded and harassed by the group. Mayel also was charged with failure to obey a police officer’s order.
Robert Muise, an attorney with the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, is defending the missionaries. He said the case is about political prosecution of Christian missionaries.
“They dared to attend to peacefully discuss their beliefs at a festival,” Muise said.
Muise also told the jury he would present video shot by the missionaries that shows them conducting themselves peacefully.
The missionaries, who are members of a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics, said they did not harass anyone and that people approached them.
Muise also asked the jury to consider police conduct.
Police said the missionaries were arrested because they failed to obey police commands at the June 18 festival. Officers maintain that the group’s actions jeopardized public safety because they caused a lot of people to gather in a small space.
Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad testified Monday that the three-day festival, covering 11 city blocks, drew more than 250,000 people.
“We try to facilitate safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles,” Haddad said. “We try to keep everything safe so everyone has a good time.”